Search feeds · also called rev share, payout share, revshare
Revenue share (rev share)
Revenue share is the percentage of advertiser spending that a search engine or feed provider passes on to the publisher whose page produced the click.
When an advertiser pays for a click on a partner page, the money is split. The search engine keeps part and pays the rest to its partner. If that partner is a feed provider, it splits again with the publisher underneath. Each split is a revenue share.
Real percentages are set by private contract and vary by partner and volume. One public reference point exists: in 2010 Google disclosed that standard AdSense for Search partners received 51% of the revenue from search ads on their sites, a rate it said had applied since 2005. Larger negotiated deals can differ, and today's contracts are not published.
Two cautions apply. First, a share of what? The base may be gross advertiser spend or spend after deductions for invalid clicks and discounts such as smart pricing. A high percentage of a reduced base can be worth less than a lower percentage of a full one. Second, the split is applied to finalised figures, so estimated revenue during the month may fall.
From the engine's side, the money paid out to partners is its TAC.
An example
For illustration: an advertiser pays $1.00. The engine pays its partner 70% ($0.70). The provider passes 85% of that to the publisher ($0.595) and keeps $0.105.
Related terms
TAC (traffic acquisition cost)
TAC is the money a company pays to others to obtain traffic, whether a search engine paying its partners or an arbitrageur paying for ads.
Take rate
Take rate is the percentage of money flowing through an intermediary that the intermediary keeps for itself.
Feed provider
A feed provider is a company that holds a search ad contract with Google, Microsoft or Yahoo and lets smaller publishers use it in return for a share of revenue.
Gross revenue
Gross revenue is total revenue before the costs of earning it are subtracted; where in the chain it is measured changes what the number means.
Net revenue (ex-TAC)
Net revenue is revenue left after subtracting the cost of buying the traffic that produced it, also called revenue ex-TAC.
Finalised revenue
Finalised revenue is the confirmed amount a feed will actually pay for a period, after invalid clicks and other adjustments have been deducted from the estimate.
Sources: TechCrunch: Google reveals AdSense revenue share (2010)