Google AdSense publishers are experiencing significant reductions in earnings and RPMs (page revenue per thousand impressions), with reports beginning in late February.
This downturn contrasts with earlier expectations that the transition from CPC (cost per click) to CPM (cost per mille) bidding would not affect revenue adversely.
Publishers on the Google AdSense Forums have voiced their concerns, with some reporting as much as a 70% drop in their earnings and RPM. These issues began surfacing shortly before the March core update, with no clear resolution in sight despite ongoing traffic and ad visibility.
This change in Adsense is forcing thousands of publishers to flee the once reliable and fair ad publishing networks for others such as media.net, eZoic, PixFuture, and other competitors offering higher rates.
The news is bad for advertisers who are now seeing their placements dwindle on smaller websites and niche platforms.
Page RPM, a critical metric for publishers, is calculated by dividing estimated earnings by page views and then multiplying by 1,000. The sudden decline has left many puzzled, especially those who have not altered their website traffic or content strategies.
The situation has grown severe enough that some publishers contemplate abandoning AdSense if the issue persists.
The cause of these disruptions remains under investigation.