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From the linked earnings summary: "The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.52 billion in the third

From the linked earnings summary: "The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.52 billion in the third quarter of 2010. TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website..." So, primarily adsense but also likely includes the other methods of distribution you referenced.

marcamillion 16y ago
answerly, you really lived up to your name :) Silly me. I posted this too quickly without reading the full release. Also of interest, further down: "TAC - Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, increased to $1.81 billion in the third quarter of 2010, compared to TAC of $1.56 billion in the third quarter of 2009. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 26% in the third quarter of 2010, compared to 27% in the third quarter of 2009. The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.52 billion in the third quarter of 2010. TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $285 million in the third quarter of 2010."
- marcamillion 16y ago
  This is actually an interesting reveal. Is this something Google has disclosed before? As far as I knew, they typically didn't disclose how much % of every dollar they give their Adsense partners. But they essentially just revealed that $0.21 of every dollar from an Adsense lead/click goes to partners. This is VERY interesting...especially considering that Apple gives $0.70 to app developers.
  - answerly 16y ago
    I think they have been reporting aggregate numbers like this for a while. IIRC TAC as a % of revenue has been consistently decreasing over the last several years.

marcamillion 16y ago

answerly, you really lived up to your name :) Silly me. I posted this too quickly without reading the full release. Also of interest, further down: "TAC - Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, increased to $1.81 billion in the third quarter of 2010, compared to TAC of $1.56 billion in the third quarter of 2009. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 26% in the third quarter of 2010, compared to 27% in the third quarter of 2009. The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.52 billion in the third quarter of 2010. TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $285 million in the third quarter of 2010."

marcamillion 16y ago
This is actually an interesting reveal. Is this something Google has disclosed before? As far as I knew, they typically didn't disclose how much % of every dollar they give their Adsense partners. But they essentially just revealed that $0.21 of every dollar from an Adsense lead/click goes to partners. This is VERY interesting...especially considering that Apple gives $0.70 to app developers.
- answerly 16y ago
  I think they have been reporting aggregate numbers like this for a while. IIRC TAC as a % of revenue has been consistently decreasing over the last several years.