AdSense is an affiliate program not a separate entity
If you have targeted traffic you will always make more by finding a good sponsor with a great affiliate program behind them. You have a better knowledge of their product and you can pass that on thru your site to users users.
AdSense is more of a shotgun approach, you hope they list sponsors who are relevant to your content, this can be inconsistent, still a great money earner but not the best, don't forget Amazon here either, they have a book for every keyword