Google recently disclosed that more than 2 billion logged-in monthly users are viewing YouTube Shorts, giving it a leg up over adversaries such as TikTok and Instagram Reels.
This is an increase over the previous year’s reported 1.5 billion monthly logged-in viewers for YouTube Shorts.
According to Google’s Q2 2023 financial results, YouTube’s ad revenue of $7.67 billion exceeded expectations and represented a year-over-year increase of 4%. YouTube Select, the company’s premium advertising service, will shortly feature 30-second advertisements that users can’t avoid.
Beyond advertising, the firm has many other goals for YouTube. It started taking orders in April for the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription that will begin streaming in the fall months. YouTube has also established a partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery to offer a Max-NFL Sunday TIcket bundle on YouTube TV.
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Q2 of 2023 saw substantial revenue growth
Google reported strong quarterly earnings, with increased ad and cloud revenue. Alphabet, its parent company, reported earnings of $74.6 billion for the second quarter of 2023, covering the period of April through June.
There was a 7% increase in revenues to $70.3 billion from $69.7 billion in Q2 2022, $21.84 billion in operating income, and $18.37 billion in net income (up from $16 billion). In contrast, Alphabet’s previous quarterly report included revenue of $69.8 billion and net income of $15.05 billion.
“There’s exciting momentum across our products and the company,” said Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who also oversaw the firm’s impressive quarterly performance. Our continuous leadership in AI, as well as our prowess in engineering and innovation, are driving the upcoming wave of Search and enhancing all of our services. We have so many opportunities to achieve our objective with fifteen products that each serve half a billion people and six that serve over two billion.”
Ruth Porat, Google and Alphabet’s chief financial officer, stated, “Our financial results reflect continued resilience in Search, with an acceleration of revenue growth in both Search and YouTube, as well as momentum in Cloud.” We continue to invest for growth while prioritising efforts to reengineer our cost base across the board and build capacity to provide long-term value.”
Ruth Porat, the current CFO of Alphabet and Google, will be assuming the position of President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google on September 1. In this capacity, she will continue to report to Sundar Pichai. Porat has worked with the firm since May of 2015, making her the “company’s longest-serving CFO.”
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Other revenue also increased
Ruth will be working closely with Sundar on Alphabet’s investments in the Other Bets portfolio and the company’s initiatives in nations and communities across the globe in her new position. Alphabet’s investments fuel worldwide economic expansion across a wide range of sectors. When it comes to employment, economic opportunity, competitiveness, and infrastructure growth, she will also be actively engaging lawmakers and regulators.
Until Alphabet/Google finds a new CFO, Porat will stay in his current role.
YouTube’s ad revenue in Q2 2023 was $7.67 billion (up from $7.34 billion in the same period in 2022), while Cloud’s was $8.03 billion (up from $6.28 billion).
In comparison to the same period a year ago, “Google other revenues” increased from $6.55 billion to $8.14 billion. This category includes hardware revenue, the Play Store, and YouTube revenue that does not come from advertisements.