AdSense celebrates 10 years

AdSense started out offering only contextually-targeted text ads in 2003, and has evolved significantly since then. Click here to see a press release announcing AdSense back in 2003.Back then Google had a bout 100,000 advertisers using AdWords and this number now is more than 1.5 million.

AdSense has developed new features and products with display, video, mobile web, in-game and custom search ads. They have also added new reports, controls, and even a new interface to make it easier to manage accounts.

Click here to watch a video about the past 10 years of AdSense.

Here is what Google said about the 10 year anniversary:

Ten years ago we launched AdSense to help publishers earn money by placing relevant ads on their websites. I can still remember the excitement and anticipation as AdSense went live that first day. Our small team huddled together in a cramped conference room, and right away we saw that publishers were as excited about AdSense as we were.

Fast-forward ten years, and AdSense has become a core part of Google’s advertising business. TheAdSense community has grown to include over two million publishers, and last year alone, publishers earned over $7 billion from AdSense. AdSense is a community that thrives because of all the content creators we are so fortunate to partner with. So whether you’re a publisher that’s been with us for ten years or ten days — thank you!

Your stories inspire us to do our part to make AdSense great. On this occasion, it’s especially inspiring to hear the stories of partners who have been with us since the very beginning.  Like a retiree in New Zealandwho was able to pursue her dream of writing about her garden, a tech support expert in Colorado who can spend more time with his kids, and a a theme park reviewer who sends employees around the world to test and review rides — all thanks to money earned from AdSense.

As part of our 10th anniversary celebration, we hope you’ll tune into our live Hangout on Air today at 10am PDT (5pm GMT) on the AdSense +page. I look forward to joining several of our partners to share stories from the early days of AdSense, talk about how we’ve all grown since then, and discuss the future for publishers and online advertising. And if you want even more 10th anniversary celebration, just visit our AdSense 10th anniversary page at any time.

Thank you again to the entire AdSense community. We look forward to partnering with you for many moreyears to come!