Alphabet Posts Strong Revenue on Video Market
Alphabet Inc, Google's parent, on Thursday revealed that efforts to push its advertising business toward mobile is paying off. The company's second quarter earnings showed that the company has started to make profit out of mobile advertising and Android, while it had been relying on desktop search traffic to power its profits.
Alphabet said revenue grew by 21.3 percent to $21.5 billion, while earnings jumped to $4.88 billion from $3.93 billion for the comparable period a year ago.
Robust gains in the red-hot video market also drove the company's growth, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said during a call with investors. Over the past year, Google, Facebook and Twitter have all doubled down on video, a format where advertisers are willing to pay a premium for a few seconds of users' undivided attention.
Google has used artificial intelligence to improve video recommendations to users, driving more engagement on the site, Pichai said.
"Video is a huge component of digital content, and YouTube continues to shine," he said. "It?s a thriving home for creators."
Revenue at Alphabet's Other Bets business rose 150 percent to $185 million, while operating losses widened to $859 million.
The division includes broadband business Google Fiber, home automation products Nest, self-driving cars and X - the research facility that works on "moon shot" ventures.
Google's ad revenue rose 19.5 percent to $19.14 billion, while it notched a 29 percent rise in paid clicks, where advertisers pay the company only if a user clicks on the ad.
Google's other revenue surged 33 percent, driven by gains in the cloud computing business, in which Google competes with Microsoft and Amazon to rent computer servers to other companies.