I totally agree about the TGP game..its really hit or miss with sponsors. Some do 1:1000'ish...others do 1:9000 with tgp traffic. thats where a LOT of the compition is, thats where alot of newbies start (is with submitting galleries).
now, with SE traffic, I havent seen a decrease in converting SE traffic at all. heres 3 different sponsors of mine:
and this is blog and SE traffic mixed (why the ratio is a little more):

(take from this month, May 15th-19th)
I dont think SE traffic has changed. But tgp traffic definatly did. Just my
