BlogWorld attendees were first to see this data courtesy of Technorati’s CEO Richard Jalichandra who opened the 2008 BlogWorld & New Media Expo with the highlights of this report. Today Technorati has released part 1 of 4 of the complete report.  Three more segments will be released this week.

My biggest take away from this report?

More bloggers are able to make money from their efforts. As the medium builds in readership

Blogs are Profitable

The majority of bloggers we surveyed currently have advertising on their blogs. Among those with advertising, the mean annual investment in their blog is $1,800, but it’s paying off. The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month. Note: median investment and revenue (which is listed below) is significantly lower. They are also earning CPMs.

Bloggers are sophisticated in using self serve tools for search, display, and affiliate advertising, and are increasingly turning to ad and blog networks. Many bloggers without advertising may consider it when their blogs grow – the inability to set up advertising will not be a factor.

I think this is what Technorati means by the medium going mainstream. Obviously we agree here at BlogWorld.

One of the smartest social media experts I know Marshall Kirkpatrick doesn’t.

Erick Shonfeld at Techcrunch doesn’t believe the self reported earnings from bloggers:

The $6,000 a year I can believe. The $75,000 figure is harder to swallow, especially with only 100,000 visitors a month. But directionally there is no doubt that blogs are bringing in more cash.

I am not statistician but maybe serious bloggers who earn income are more likely to respond to the survey?

More thoughts at CNET, Mashable, VentureBeat, A VC,