Alphabet’s Revenues Jump 23 Pct Amid Spike In Advertising

Alphabet Earnings: Advertising, Cloud, Antitrust

Alphabet Inc. reported Tuesday (Feb. 2) as part of its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020 results that revenues jumped approximately 23 percent for the quarter ended Dec. 31, from the same quarter in 2019, as the Google parent’s advertising revenues soared.

Drilling down into the numbers, YouTube revenues were up approximately 46 percent year on year to $6.9 billion, while total advertising revenues came in at $46.2 billion, up from $37.9 billion in the same quarter last year.

Google Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said on a call with analysts that the company is offering an “ecosystem that works for every kind of business from national chains and online marketplaces to just your small local stores. And we’re giving retailers more choice, which is very well received, by opening our platform to third-party providers.”

In terms of video, Schindler said on the call that the company has seen brands “steadily shift budgets to YouTube to complement their linear TV buys as TV audiences [have] really become more fragmented. And as traditional TV ratings continue to decline, TV advertisers are turning to streaming platforms like YouTube to reach people who are no longer watching TV.”

Other revenues were up approximately 26.8 percent year on year to $6.7 billion. And revenues for “Other Bets,” which covers the company’s Waymo self-driving offering and life sciences operations, were $196 million, up approximately 14 percent year on year.

As far as its overall results, Alphabet reported diluted earnings per share of $22.30 on $56.9 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter. The results handily exceeded analyst estimates of $15.99 in earnings per share on $53.15 billion in revenue.

“Our strong results this quarter reflect the helpfulness of our products and services to people and businesses, as well as the accelerating transition to online services and the cloud,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet said in Alphabet’s earnings announcement. “Google succeeds when we help our customers and partners succeed, and we see significant opportunities to forge meaningful partnerships as businesses increasingly look to a digital future.”