Sophie Blake
YouTube has once again exceeded market expectations, announcing $8.92 billion in ad revenue for Q3 2024, reflecting impressive 12% year-over-year growth. The platform’s overall revenue — inclusive of ads and subscriptions such as YouTube Premium and NFL Sunday Ticket — crossed the $50 billion milestone over the last 12 months, marking a first in the company’s history. This achievement averages out to an impressive $12.5 billion in quarterly earnings, though Google typically refrains from publicly breaking down YouTube’s total revenue by quarter.
Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai credited YouTube’s strong performance to consistent innovation and strategic growth in artificial intelligence, positioning the platform as a favorite among advertisers and creators alike. According to analysts, YouTube’s advertising growth outpaced Wall Street’s $8.89 billion forecast, as the company’s quarterly report revealed a robust 15% revenue increase for Alphabet overall, reaching $88.27 billion, alongside a 34% boost in net income to $26.3 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at $2.12, comfortably beating expectations of $1.85.
The recent Olympic Games in Paris proved a powerful engagement tool for YouTube, attracting an audience of 850 million unique viewers, resulting in 12 billion total views. Philipp Schindler, Google’s Chief Business Officer, noted that 35% of Olympic viewing time occurred on TV screens, underscoring the platform’s reach across diverse viewing formats. YouTube also recorded an impressive 20% growth in upfront ad commitments, signaling advertisers’ continued confidence in the platform’s potential.
Alphabet’s Q3 report highlighted growth beyond YouTube. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported a strong 15% increase in third-quarter revenue, reaching $88.27 billion in Q3 2024, compared to the same period last year. This solid performance follows its Q2 2024 report, where Alphabet earned $84.7 billion in revenue and achieved a net income of $23.62 billion.
Google’s advertising division played a key role in the quarter’s success, with revenue rising to $65.9 billion, slightly above last year’s $65.5 billion. Google Search continues to be a central driver, with search revenue alone increasing 12% to $49.4 billion, outpacing analyst predictions of $49 billion. Alphabet highlighted the growing influence of AI in enhancing search capabilities, particularly for younger audiences.
Among AI-driven features, Circle to Search has shown increased engagement among users aged 18 to 34, enhancing Google’s ability to interpret user intent and connect advertisers with the right audiences. Meanwhile, the Lens visual search feature has been used for nearly 20 billion visual queries, with one in four searches having commercial intent. Lens is also seeing more activity with multimodal searches, combining image and text inputs to refine results.
Alphabet’s AI Overview feature has introduced search and shopping ads within mobile searches in the U.S., with users reporting the integration to be particularly helpful. Alphabet’s services, including Google Search, YouTube ads, subscriptions, and Google platforms, collectively posted a 13% revenue growth, reaching $76.5 billion.
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