Google’s ad revenue growth in the second quarter of this year slowed somewhat from Q1 but its overall ad revenue managed to bring in $US64.62 billion — or just shy of $AU100 billion.
What’s more, while YouTube ad revenue grew from $7.66 billion ($AU11.67 billion) to $AU8.66 billion ($AU13.19 billion), it still fell short of analyst expectations on Wall Street.
However, the company’s overall revenue was up a whopping 14 per cent year-on-year during the quarter, with its operating margin growing to 32 per cent.
“Our strong performance this quarter highlights ongoing strength in Search and momentum in Cloud. We are innovating at every layer of the AI stack. Our longstanding infrastructure leadership and in-house research teams position us well as technology evolves and as we pursue the many opportunities ahead,” said Alphabet (Google’s parent company) CEO Sundar Pichai.
Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer; CFO said: “We delivered revenues of $85 billion, up 14 per cent year-on-year driven by Search as well as Cloud, which for the first time exceeded $10 billion in quarterly revenues and $1 billion in operating profit. As we invest to support our highest growth opportunities, we remain committed to creating investment capacity with our ongoing work to durably re-engineer our cost base.”
Google’s decision earlier this week to not kill the third-party cookie will likely spell good news for its ad-based revenues moving forward, too.
“It looks like Google’s decision to keep third party cookies alive is less about user experience and more about keeping the cash cow. By maintaining the status quo in their lucrative ad ecosystem, they’re ensuring that advertisers stay hooked on the precision targeting that fills Google’s dividends. After all, why fix what’s bringing in billions, even if it means kicking the can down the road on real privacy innovation?” Chris Parker, CEO of Awaken told us earlier this week.
