YouTube Reports First-quarter Ad Revenue Growth Of 49%

In the first quarter of this year, YouTube earned $6 billion from advertising, almost half of last year and a 49% increase from the first quarter of the previous year. This is due to the pandemic shift to digital, but also because more and more viewers are watching YouTube on TV screens. This makes it easier for ads from linear TV to move to YouTube.

This week is when tech giants report quarterly earnings. TikTok has strong momentum, Facebook's video numbers are solid, and Alphabet's (Google's parent company) "earnings report" also shows the health of YouTube. Overall, it's quite satisfactory.

YouTube has 2 billion logged-in users every month, and viewers collectively watch more than 1 billion hours a day. This is why its advertising revenue reached $6 billion in the first quarter of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 49%. That's a good result, especially considering last year's first quarter wasn't severely impacted by the pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic may have slashed ad budgets for many companies, but digital is the winner in this situation. Brands have been moving their ads from TV to the internet in an effort to save money and make their ads more targeted. But then, competition among advertisers on YouTube also makes advertising more expensive.

In early March, YouTube's chief product officer Neal Mohan revealed another trend in which YouTube is making money from formerly linear TV ads.

"While the majority of content on our platform is still consumed via mobile devices, the fastest growing medium is the TV screen." Mohan also added an infographic with trends in watching different types of YouTube videos on TV. At least half of the year-over-year growth was in the music, education and humor categories.

This precisely signals the rationale behind the shift of advertising dollars to the digital realm. Google's head of search, Phillip Schindler, also emphasized this when announcing the current financial results.

Going forward, YouTube is preparing to further focus on e-commerce opportunities. It is understood that so-called mobile advertising is very effective, that is, "adding" a banner call to action to the video being watched. However, an Alphabet representative revealed that YouTube is looking forward to growing further in the area of ​​product discovery.

The epidemic has promoted digital development and combined e-commerce with video content. Many video platforms have expanded into the e-commerce field and sought new economic growth points.