A few years ago, we spoke of the "AdSense Economy." It was so simple. Create a website, slap on an AdSense widget, and voila: "Insta-biz." Wow! Who knew business could be so simple? AdSense was proof of Google's genius, having grown into a multi-billion dollar business in only a few years after its launch in 2003. Google's search business continues to grow in dominance, and the company's apps business is putting a serious dent in Microsoft's franchise.
But cracks are appearing in AdSense. AdSense is 30% of Google's revenue, so this matters. Any weakness in AdSense is important for Google's investors as well as advertisers, publishers, users, and entrepreneurs.
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Three Constituents Who Need to Be Kept Happy
AdSense was a runaway success because it met the needs of online publishers, advertisers, and users all at once:
Publishers could get revenue simply by pasting a widget on their website.
Advertisers could extend their performance-based search-driven advertising, which they already knew and liked, across the Web.