YouTube earned $8.66 billion in advertising revenue in the second quarter, but Wall Street expected more

Google-owned video platform YouTube reported that in the second quarter of 2024 its advertising revenue amounted to $8.66 billion. This is 13% more than in the same period last year, but below the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who predicted $8.93 billion. although overall Alphabet managed to exceed their expectations.

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YouTube’s ad sales growth has slowed to 20% in the first quarter, but the platform still has an iron grip on the market as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video see the video ad market as sluggish. At the corporate level of the Alphabet holding, artificial intelligence remains the main growth factor today.

«Our strong performance this quarter underscores Search’s continued strength and Cloud’s momentum. Our long-standing infrastructure leadership and internal research capabilities reflect our successes as technology evolves and how we pursue opportunities in the future,” said Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.

Alphabet’s total revenue for the second quarter amounted to $84.7 billion – a year earlier it was $74.6 billion. Advertising revenue in Search reached $48.5 billion; and the subscriptions, platforms and devices business, which includes YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube Premium, showed $9.3 billion.