Does anyone know of any studies that spell out how big the blogging market is?
I’d include blog hosting, blogging software, blog design, blog consulting, etc in the estimate. My personal guess? Nearing up on 1B$/year, and set to top 5B$/year by the end of 2006.
But, that’s just a guess. I’m fairly certain the industry is nearing up on 1B$ though.
December 17th, 2004 at 9:38 pm
Blog software makes money? I thought it was all free.
December 17th, 2004 at 9:56 pm
$1b a year? Are you kidding me? Lucky to be reaching the $1m a year (at most).
December 17th, 2004 at 10:02 pm
G: Some companies are paying upwards of 250K for blogging software.
Six Apart is, all by itself, pulling in roughly 10M$/year. Weblogs, Inc and Nick Denton’s outfit are probably doing another combined 10M$.
Blog hosting and the ads on blogs is sitting at an easy 100M$.
Blog consulting is at easily 20M$.
Sure, that’s only 150M$… But that’s just off the top of my head. And I’m no analyst. I’m sure it’s much larger than that, since that only encompasses a handful of folk, and I know of several bloggers who are individually pulling down 1M$/year (probably 10 of them), and thousands more making fulltime salaries off of blogging (so another 20M$ or so there).
Plus the 500+ companies paying bloggers fulltime salaries, that’s another 30M$, so a total of 200M$ already.
I could probably keep going but it’s time for bed.
December 17th, 2004 at 11:58 pm
I have to agree with you Jeremy. Technorati’s about page states that approx. 10% of the “internet population” are reading blogs regularly. Given the demographic of these people, a large percentage of them are not reading your everyday teen rants either. They’re reading the pro’s who are serious enough about blogging to have invested a little cash.
So it would be safe to assume that blog hosting fees are up there in the millions too, as well as professional design fees, custom programming of blog platforms, and other necessary and incidental expenses bloggers pay out.
And what about the money people are paying to advertise on blogs? That’s a nice chunk of change as well and it’s only going to grow in the future…
I think your estimates are a little conservative if anything.
December 18th, 2004 at 12:48 am
I am predicting blogging, as an industry, to top the billion dollar mark in 2005. While some people might consider that forecast to be wildly optimistic, keep in mind that once the big corporate players enter the blogosphere, the industry could explode even beyond my estimates. Blogging revenue is not simply advertisement based, as was the dot.com dream. Blogging has a much wider and deeper base.
December 18th, 2004 at 1:25 am
Blog Market Potential?
Jeremy is guessing on the size of the Blogging Market. Interesting question! I think his guess is as good as anyone’s. But which assumption can we make to be a bit more precise? – How many weblogs is around? -…
December 18th, 2004 at 4:05 am
Give sources for those revenue figures and specific bloggers who are making that much.
December 18th, 2004 at 8:00 am
I think that’s the highest concentration of the word “blog” to ever appear in a post. A new record!
In terms of revenue, I’d probably put blogs at around half a billion, easy. Could be a lot more if you count outfits like Slashdot in as “blogs”.
December 18th, 2004 at 12:58 pm
Slashdot makes a lot of money?
December 18th, 2004 at 1:50 pm
Yep, they fill their ad slots, which brings in roughly 25M$/year at the posted rates.
December 18th, 2004 at 2:44 pm
99% of bloggers dont put ads on their blogs and most use free services. I guess, atleast, your potential clients will like the hype
December 18th, 2004 at 2:51 pm
99% That’s a big figure. Thankfully, even at 1%, that’s still 150,000 bloggers.
But, since 30% of Blogger bloggers use AdSense, that’s a solid 1 million bloggers right there. Then there’s the raft of Typepad bloggers who do it to defray costs.
Then there’s the other 250,000 who use Blog Ads. And the 150,000 who use AdBrite.
Sure, that’s only 2-3 million bloggers. But, that’s also only 4 services. And, y’know, it’s closer to 20% of bloggers
Again, though, let me quote myself in the original post:
“Does anyone know of any studies that spell out how big the blogging market is?”
Because, really, I don’t know. All I have are educated guesses. Is it 1B$? I don’t know. But it’s more than 1M$ on any given day, nevermind year.
December 18th, 2004 at 4:01 pm
This is just my personal opinion but I think you are focusing on the small aspect of it. There are people making lots of money off their blogs and they don’t have an ad on it. Those people are not going to say how much they make but I can tell you I know someone who landed a $1M contract because of his blog – and it didn’t have an ad on it.
Using your blog as a tool to make money usually has the potential to bring in 100x more than the blog itself making money.
December 18th, 2004 at 10:25 pm
Slashdot has revenues of $25M/year? Where’s that info available?
December 18th, 2004 at 10:33 pm
That should have been “Yep, IF they fill their ad slots”. I don’t know how close to full they are or stay, or if they sell all their slots for full price.
December 19th, 2004 at 1:20 pm
> Give sources for those revenue figures and specific bloggers who are making that much.
Got sources?
December 20th, 2004 at 12:18 pm
Correct me if I am wrong but:
It’s like asking “How many rabbits live in the forrest?”
I don’t think there is really anyway to know.
When you are taking into account money being made are you talking about direct or indirect income — such as “Tyme” mentioned?
Chuck