What's an AdSense Premium Publisher?

I've been getting more and more traffic to my site and am now wondering whether instead of just being a Google AdSense publisher I could move into the world of "AdSense Premium Publisher"? What are the criteria and benefits?

Dave's Answer:

To get an answer for this question, I turned to my friend and colleague Lee Dodd, self-annointed Forum Jedi at The Forum Fix. Here's what Lee had to share regarding his own brush with Premium Publisher status:

Great question, but the answer might not be quite what you expect, so I'd like to try to clarify a bit about Google Adsense Premium Publishers because, in my opinion, the information on the site doesn't really answer your questions about this program.

First of all, I am not a premium publisher nor will I ever be most likely. I am a part of Google's "Special Adsense Optimization Team", however (that's an unofficial name).

I do have an account manager at Google that I can call / email. There are benefits to of the Optimization Team program that regular AdSense users don't ever see, such as the ability to use creative ad formats, put more than three ad units per page, more ads per ad unit, and so on.

I do not however make a bigger commission percentage, nor will they share with me the percentage of the PPC ad payment I earn. It's just as much a mystery to me as everyone else, frankly.

The very first call I had with my account manager I grilled him all the questions I ever wanted to ask Google about Adsense. I had him explain how this Optimizer program was something new and was invite only. I had him explain how it wasn't the premium publisher program and why it wasn't.

He said the premium publisher program is for very large publisher, b but that the 20 million page views required for admission isn't a concrete number. The examples of premium publisher he gave were AOL and CNN. Very large sites, getting huge traffic.

They also get the benefits I do, but the difference is that they have a signed contract with Google.

He explained that premium publisher negotiate their price - so to speak - with Google, and that the process usually takes weeks or even months, then a set pay rate is established and a contract signed. It is a major ordeal according to my Google rep.

After hearing that, I was very pleased to be in the position I was in and glad that I could move on and quit dreaming of being an Adsense Premium Publisher. :)

Lee, thanks for sharing that inside scoop on both Premium Publishers and the Optimization Team. I want to be in the latter group now! :-)

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Reader Comments To Date: 16

Jim Prescott said, on February 1, 2006 8:20 AM:

Lee says the Optimizer program is new and by invitation only. Is it known what triggered the invite? Is this something that Google plans to expand?

Saurabh said, on September 18, 2006 6:24 AM:

Hi Dev,
IF i have a Brand new which is Still Not Indexed then can i use Google Adsense.

JA said, on November 20, 2006 8:26 AM:

Hello,

I recently read somewhere that you get more premium features if your page views cross 20 million per month?

I run http://www.scrabulous.com where users can play Scrabble online and I get about a million views a month. So if I increase traffic by 20 times, can I expect to be a Google Premium Publisher?

Luis said, on January 25, 2007 7:23 PM:

I have just been invited to a "program", they didnt specify; I was thrilled, but I just went thru the 20 million per month, over $1000 monthly. So I guess, that triggers it.

Chetan said, on May 15, 2008 3:21 AM:

Man, never knew that premium publishers get lesser amount for every click!!!

One of my sites has millions of views but am not a premium publisher.

miro said, on July 5, 2008 12:37 PM:

Does this program have more benefits than the normal one?

Does it mean that a premium publisher's account will not be disabled?

Map said, on December 5, 2008 9:22 AM:

Hmm... 20 million pageviews a month? At eCPM of $4, that would be $80,000 a month! (Just an example with made-up numbers.) So, Lois' site must be getting an eCPM of 4.5 cents! That can't be. If I had 20 million pageviews a month, I'd make over a million dollars a year.

joe said, on February 3, 2009 1:17 AM:

"The very first call I had with my account manager I grilled him all the questions I ever wanted to ask Google about Adsense. I had him explain how this Optimizer program was something new and was invite only. I had him explain how it wasn't the premium publisher program and why it wasn't."

That's great but you failed to relay to us why this Optimizer program was something new and was invite only.

Way to get us all hot and bothered, just to have us take a cold shower...

Mohit said, on May 18, 2009 8:24 PM:

Dave you shouldn't quit dreaming of being an Adsense Premium Publisher coz I've seen a blogger Labnol.org who is an adsense premium publisher. You could be the next. Don't loose hope...carry on ...I'm too expecting the same.

Jehzeel Laurente said, on August 10, 2009 9:34 AM:

So in order to become a premium publisher, I need my alexa rank to be in top 100 or I should have a million pages view per day.

I'm now hopeless to become one. I saw a lot of premium publishers and so jealous of them. Like CNET, Labnol, and other websites. T___T

But still, If you'll become an accidental billionaire and follow the course which facebook took, I think there's still a chance to have a "BIG" site and become a premium publisher. There are still a lot of opportunities in the world wide web that were not yet discovered or unveiled, let's just hope that we can find one. :D

Dave said, on September 15, 2009 6:46 PM:

What happened to:

"Lee Dodd, self-annointed Forum Jedi at The Forum Fix."

The website is down. The latest thing I could find on it is:

http://web.archive.org/web/20070118160100/www.forumtrends.com/

max said, on December 28, 2009 2:07 AM:

Great info, I am trying to get my site http://zedomax.biz into Google's adsense premium but 20M pageviews seems way too hard, I've seen smaller sites with Ad premium so...better keep working harder.

Inspired Robin said, on February 11, 2010 6:15 PM:

20 million a month... so what is the real benefit of this? You dont make more money but you can put more ads? Sounds decent, but I'd go for the contract ;).

Bilal Niaz said, on September 18, 2010 8:48 PM:

May be it makes sense because website with high grade traffic fetch more from Google and perhaps Google signs a contract with them to ensure payouts upto a limited amount. Ofcourse this is a business tactics and every business would like to save more and pay less... However, a mystery still persis that what is a concrete criteria to be a premium publisher? Plus what distinguishing benefits a premium publisher have as compared to normal adsense publishers?

Carl Firenga said, on September 22, 2010 8:58 AM:

its kind of unfair. Google should have some intermediate plan for small publisher. I have a website with more then 1 millions views per month. I am not that big like CNN. But still I generate much revenue. Even ppl like me should be given some good choices. What u think??

Sunra said, on October 13, 2010 3:36 PM:

Well... I do around 6 million pageviews per month, spend thousands per month on Google ads, and I'd just love to actually get someone from Google to respond to an email now and again with simple answers to simple questions. I don't care about "premium" anything. Just give me the basic level of service anyone should expect from a company one does business with.

I can't think of a worse company in terms of customer service.

Hell, I'd even settle for a paid 900 number for support.

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

What's an AdSense Premium Publisher?

Reader Comments To Date: 16

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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