YPN vs. Google Adsense

Not too long ago there was a comment on my blog by Joseph from American Blogosphere asking which ad network I preferred.  Well I have switched between the two a few times and have come to some pretty interesting results every single time, it breaks down as follows:

• Earnings per click with Yahoo! continue to be significantly higher than Google Adsense
• Click through rate on Yahoo! ads is significantly lower than Google Adsense
• Yahoo! is simpler and has some interesting features (like category targeting); but Google Adsense definitely has significantly more ad inventory and appears to have all sorts of interesting new ad formats (video, graphic, etc.)
• Yahoo! Publisher Network has outperformed my Google Adsense earnings by 3 to 1 overall.

These are all specific to this  blog, given another site (particularly on a different topic) I am sure the results would vary.  This is just my experience.

Comments

[Jason]

I think it is going to be interesting to see how these types of ad networks transition to the ever growing blog world. As more and more people begin to employ these ads on theire own sites, they will cease clicking on ads from o ther sites.

I read somewhere -- and I cannot remember who wrote it -- that bloggers don't click ads. I find that true of myself.

What will the next step be? I guess we will have to wait to find out.

[Michael Katcher]

I would agree with that statement, Jason. The explanation I'd offer is that most bloggers are at least moderately skilled at navigating the web. While an ad is an easy way for a novice Internet user to find products, a more experienced web surfer knows where to look without any help.

Similarly, a car enthusiast would likely not be persuaded by a generic ad on TV. He knows of much better places to learn about cars than the targeted audience of the ad.

Thoughts?

[Levi]

I've been testing the two quite a bit lately. In my experience, the results are similar to yours. However, for a lot of my sites, the targeting of Adsense and the higher CTR makes up for the smaller payout.

[Joseph Williams]

Thanks for the info! Been curious about this for a while.