One year after the pandemic led to a sharp fall in Alphabet’s ad spending, the company’s Q1 2020 ad revenue has more than rebounded, sending the stock upwards in after-hours trading.
Alphabet revenue grew 34% in Q1 to $55.3 billion. The amount Google paid out to its partners (or traffic acquisition costs) trailed revenue, growing 30% to $9.7 billion.
YouTube was Alphabet’s top performer, drafting off the rise in consumers using flocking to online video for entertainment and education. Revenue grew by 49% to $6 billion.
Performance advertising remains a strength for YouTube. The number of advertisers using TrueView for action, its video performance advertising product, doubled over the past year. according to Google SVP and chief business officer Philipp Schindler.
YouTube is working on bringing more brand advertising to its platform, so it can “address both brand and performance goals at scale,” Schindler said.
One key selling point for brand advertisers is incremental reach.
More 18 to 49-year-olds watch YouTube every month than watch linear TV combined, Schindler said. Plus, YouTube claims to have 2 billion monthly logged-in users.
