Today's Unbelievable Stat: Average Full-Time Blogger Makes $122,000

I must be doing something very, very wrong. Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2009 report finds that "For full-time bloggers, the average revenue in a year is $122,222. For part-timers, annual income is $14,777. The average for the full and part-timers combined is $42,548" [Dean Takahashi, "Technorati: Full-Time Bloggers Are Making More Money Than Ever," VentureBeat.com, 2009.10.22]

$122,222 for full-time blogging—that's a lot of people clicking on a lot of ads for a lot of stuff they don't need.

The money-making bloggers also report making money on speaking fees and media appearances. Hm... the Kiwanis and the Rotary have both bought me lunch....

Note the above ad revenue numbers apply to only 28% of the blogosphere: 72% of the bloggers Technorati surveyed for this year's study are "hobbyists" reporting no income. I will also speculate that the data overrepresent the ambitious monetizing bloggers: the base samples appear to be self-selected users of Technorati and Lijit. That sample would naturally include more of the movers and shakers determined to raise the advertising profile of their blogs by every means available.

Still, $122,222—wowza! Makes a guy want to quit his day job and get some more widgets!