* i meant not bigger news sites

Just to give you hindsight, I have queried on decline based on general themes not on particular niche.

General themes: recipes, apparels, books, baby stuffs, finance and more.

First you need to be sure that Adsense payouts in general are actually in decline. I'm not convinced they are. Some sites are earning less others more is what I see.

I do think though that smaller sites are suffering worse compared to larger sites. That's from my point of view.

@nomis5

Some sites are earning less others more is what I see

In a way you have confirmed what we have observed.

So is it specific to some niches or just because site are smaller.

- lalit kumar

It's niche and traffic.

@netmeg So revenue decline is also noticed by you, as we are observing ?

No, overall I'm WAY up over last year, more than double. But not on every site. Some of my new sites hit it out of the park immediately, and some of my old ones have seen a decline (mostly because I've neglected them while developing the new ones) But on the whole - I'm good.

mostly because I've neglected them while developing the new ones

Could that be reason, it seems we too have missed some tricks and tweaks. We need to audit the inventories it seems.

- lalit kumar

It strikes me that Google recently declared that the Profits are way down, by implication it might that Individual webmasters would expect a similar decline in income, in general that is

Nevertheless, the decline would be an average downward slope, but some sites would be doing worse that others, and some might beat the market trend due to localized circumstances,

My CTR (even on the most successful sites) is way way down like everyone else's; what made the difference this year was increased traffic and explosive EPCs (and more sites). Interesting that Google says CPCs are down, because I'm experiencing just the opposite.

All the more reason to work on my other channels, because mine may catch up to the rest at any point.

We're a small site and are doing better than ever. CTR is up; epc is up. Overall revenues are up.

All the more reason to work on my other channels, because mine may catch up to the rest at any point

So you are suggesting new channels in terms of ad network or new niche sites ?

---

We're a small site and are doing better than ever. CTR is up; epc is up

Nice...good to see others are earning well. Its encouraging :)

There are probably many reasons, but the most important reason in my opinion is that the way people access the Internet has dramatically changed from desktop/laptop variants to mobile devices. Many businesses including Facebook, not just Google, have been slow to adequately monetize mobile traffic.

Yah; my traffic overall is just a hair under 50% mobile (except for my personal blog)

So you are suggesting new channels in terms of ad network or new niche sites ?

I'm not suggesting anything, I'm just saying that I have a lot of irons in the fire, since I firmly believe in lots of eggs and lots of baskets. I have a lot of sites in a handful of niches. I've got a couple more niches I'm looking at. We're (I have one partner) improving the existing sites almost daily. Pricing out having a mobile app created (both a free-with-ad version and a full featured ninety nine cent one) Have a system for selling direct advertising half built. Always testing other ad networks when I come across them, but so far none comes close to AdSense (but I'm sure with the amount and demographic of the traffic I get, I can do better with direct anyway. Plus I can do mobile direct.) Email marketing. Going to send out some flyers. Facebook and Twitter. I got news reporters clamoring for interviews.

AND I still have my day job.

In short, while I love AdSense and it's working well for me right now, I'm not betting my retirement on it.

(And no - I don't sleep.)

(And no - I don't sleep.)

netmeg! get out of my headspace :)

And no - I don't sleep

thanks to hectic daily life; thinking to earn more out of competition or consuming time to research and enable other avenues of income makes personal life BUSY, me too sleeping hardly 4 hours daily :p

the most important reason in my opinion is that the way people access the Internet has dramatically changed from desktop/laptop variants to mobile devices

The response should be positive and prompt due devices being more personalized and handy. What's your take ?

Alas...views (time on page) and inventory might have taken a back seat due to space constraint !

My EPC is way up. And my CTR has been up since Google decided to MAX out the size of all text ads.

@thatsbobo

friend do you also use display formats

May be we should better dug up some good niches :)

Here's some interesting stats compiled from 2,600 AdWords accounts that ran Wordstream's AdWords Grader in Q3 2012. [wordstream.com...]

My analysis shows that, in the last quarter, the average costs per click (CPCs) have declined significantly in the last quarter (-16.5% for Google Search, -18.2% for Google Display Network), while click-through rates (CTR) were mixed (-12.4% for Google Search, +13.8% for Google Display Network).

Offsetting those declines are an impressive growth of ad impressions and clicks (clicks were up +21.6% for Google Search, +29.1% for Google Display Network), which more than made up for lost revenues.

My take is that the trends we’re seeing in the Google economy create a win-win for both AdWords advertisers and Google.

A larger available inventory of impressions, combined with lower CPC, means that PPC advertisers are now literally able to get more customers for less money.

It also opens up Search Engine Marketing to more advertisers, including perhaps advertisers for whom the economics of search might not have previously worked out at higher average costs per click. (Just as SEO is harder for small businesses with lower budgets, so is PPC.)

From the infographic:
Average CPC
Google Search $0.53 down 16.5% from Q2
Google Display Network $0.35 down 18.2% from Q2
Average CTR
Google Search 3.47% down 12.4%
Google Display Network 0.18% up 13.8%

Top 10 Industries (Advertiser Spend)
Google Search | Google Display Network
Imp CTR CPC | Imp CTR CPC
1) Finance 617M 3.67 3.09 | 5.3B 0.10 1.03
2) Travel 3.45M 4.88 0.29 | 2.14B 0.18 0.28
3) Shopping 232M 5.23 0.25 | 1.21B 0.23 0.27
4) Jobs & Education 660M 1.72 1.80 | 2.06B 0.13 0.34
5) Internet & Telecom 388M 2.90 1.11 | 1.35B 0.19 0.40
6) Computers & Electronics
7) Business & Industrial
8) Home & Garden
9) Auto & Vehicles
10) Beauty & Fitness

Great link Leonard0, thanks.