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YouTube reaches $10 billion in ad revenue during Q4

The YouTube app running on a smartphone. (Stock image)
The YouTube app running on a smartphone. (Stock image)

Just two years ago, executives at Google parent company Alphabet were struggling to address a trend of lower advertising revenue at YouTube.

Those days are now over.



On Tuesday, Alphabet revealed YouTube surpassed $10 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024, the largest amount of ad revenue ever earned by the world’s biggest streaming video platform.

The ad income — $10.47 billion — surpassed Wall Street expectations of $10.23 billion and was up from the nearly $9 billion in revenue earned during Q3.



The figure did not include subscription revenue from YouTube Premium, the ad-free version of the streaming platform, or other services like YouTube TV or YouTube Music. It wasn’t clear if it included revenue from advertising inserted across some channels and networks carried by YouTube TV.

The income was around 10 percent of Alphabet’s total Q4 revenue of $96.47 billion, slightly lower than Wall Street’s expected income of $96.67 billion.



“Q4 was a strong quarter driven by our leadership in AI and momentum across the business,” Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, said in a statement. “We are building, testing, and launching products and models faster than ever, and making significant progress in compute and driving efficiencies. … Our results show the power of our differentiated full-stack approach to AI innovation and the continued strength of our core businesses.”

Like other tech companies, Alphabet has made sizable investments in its research and development of artificial intelligence. The company projects an ongoing investment of $75 billion in capital expenditures this year, much of it focused on its AI projects.

“Our results show the power of our differentiated full-stack approach to AI innovation and the continued strength of our core businesses,” Pichai said.

YouTube aside, Google’s other strong asset is its Google Cloud product, which earned $11.96 billion during Q4, slightly lower than the $12.1 billion Wall Street was expecting. Google is also one of the largest advertising platforms in the world, with the company earning $46.16 billion in ads from its Google Search product and $7.41 billion from its AdSense and related networks.

All told, Google saw its advertising products earn $70.398 billion during Q4, an increase of 13.6 percent compared to the prior year.

Meanwhile, Google’s global employee headcount dipped during Q4, with the company reporting just under 180,900 workers across its various divisions, down from 190,700 reported during Q4 2023. In January 2023, Google trimmed its global workforce by around 12,000 positions.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is a nationally-recognized, award-winning journalist who has covered the business of media, technology, radio and television for more than 11 years. He is the publisher of The Desk and contributes to Know Techie, Digital Content Next and StreamTV Insider. He previously worked for Thomson Reuters, the Walt Disney Company, McNaughton Newspapers and Tribune Broadcasting. Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn by clicking or tapping here.
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