Audio By Carbonatix
YouTube generated nearly $5 billion in ad revenue in the last three months, Google revealed today as part of parent company Alphabet’s fourth quarter earnings report. This is the first report under newly instated Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who took over as the chief executive of the entire company late last year after co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped back from day-to-day duties and promoted Pichai, formerly Google CEO, to the top spot.
The announcement marks the first time in YouTube’s nearly 15 years as a Google-owned platform, since Google bought the website in 2006 for $1.65 billion, that the company has revealed how much money YouTube-hosted ads contribute to the search giant’s bottom line.
On an annual basis, Google says YouTube generated $15 billion last year and contributed roughly 10 percent to all Google revenue. Those figures make YouTube’s ad business nearly one fifth the size of Facebook’s, and more than six times larger than all of Amazon-owned Twitch.
Separately, Google says YouTube has more than 20 million subscribers across its Premium (ad-free YouTube) and Music Premium offerings, as well as more than 2 million subscribers to its paid TV service. Alphabet says revenues from those products are bundled into the “other” category, which made $5.3 billion last quarter and also includes hardware like Pixel phone and Google Home speakers. That makes it hard to gauge the specific performance of any one product bundled under that category.
Overall, Alphabet made $46 billion in revenue in the quarter that ended December 31st, 2019, a 17 percent jump over 2018. Nearly $10.7 billion of that was profit, the company says. Google’s search business remains the big moneymaker of Alphabet’s sprawling empire, earning $27.2 billion for the quarter. But alongside YouTube ad revenue, Google is also disclosing the financial performance of its cloud computing division. Google Cloud made $2.6 billion in revenue for the quarter, the report reveals.
That means Google massively beat Wall Street expectations on profit but missed on revenue. That could be one reason why Google may be disclosing YouTube and Google Cloud revenues for the first time.
To appease investors, it’s important for Google to remind onlookers that its business isn’t solely dependent on its search engine, and that it has fast-growing and separate businesses like YouTube and its cloud computing division to pick up the slack. Google Search generated an eye-popping $98.1 billion in 2019, the company says, but that’s just a 15 percent increase over 2018. YouTube, on the other hand, grew from $11.2 billion in 2018 to $15.15 billion last year, a 36.5 percent jump. That said, a revenue miss of this magnitude for Alphabet means investors were not pleased, and Alphabet stock is now down more than 4 percent in after-hours trading.Missing rev estimates by $800M is scary, especially in light of Amazon reporting surging ad revenue.
— S.F. Tech Worker (@sftechworker) February 3, 2020
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Latest Stories
-
Employers urged to use AI to improve safety workplace
27 seconds -
NDPC chair calls for creation of auto zones to restore spatial planning discipline
31 seconds -
Lightwave sues Health Minister over alleged ‘false and damaging’ remarks, demands apology
2 minutes -
Witties Ghana signs Ghana most Beautiful’s Sarfoa as influencer for Clinell Wipes
5 minutes -
Students displaced after storm rips off school roof in North Tongu
13 minutes -
E&P’s 100% gold sale to GoldBod sets benchmark — Legal Rep
15 minutes -
Photos: Mahama visits Akosombo Dam, calls for upgrade after fire incident
19 minutes -
Damang Mine sells 100% of first gold output to GoldBod, BoG in historic move
20 minutes -
Recurring power issues tied to investment gaps — Michael Aidoo
33 minutes -
High cost of doing business pushing firms out of Ghana – GUTA
36 minutes -
Faith under fire : Is the church still a sanctuary of faith or a space losing moral authority?
40 minutes -
First National Bank introduces its first Private Banking Lounge, redefining Premium Banking in Ghana
46 minutes -
Macro stability delivering early gains, broader impact underway – Finance Ministry Advisor
50 minutes -
Businesses gaining confidence as macro stability improves – Tech. Advisor, Finance Ministry
50 minutes -
Gov’t will not overspend in 2026 –Tech. Advisor to Finance Minister assures
1 hour