YouTube’s ad revenue continues to clock double-digit quarterly growth.
According to parent company Alphabet’s latest earnings release on Thursday (April 24), YouTube ad revenues reached $8.93 billion in Q1, a 10.3% YoY increase.
That growth was “driven by direct response advertising, followed by brand,” Alphabet and Google SVP and CFO Anat Ashkenazi said on the company’s earnings call.
Alphabet doesn’t break out subscription revenue specifically for YouTube, but the company’s subscriptions, platforms and devices segment recorded an 18.8% YoY increase in revenue to $10.4 billion.
Overall, the Google Services division, which includes YouTube, reported a 10.3% YoY revenue increase to $77.3 billion, reflecting “strong performance” in YouTube ads, various subscription services and Google search, the company said.
YouTube saw “strong growth in revenues across ads and subscriptions,” Google SVP and Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said on the call.
YouTube revealed last month that its Premium and Music Premium services now have 125 million paying subscribers, an increase of 25 million over the prior 12 months.
On the earnings call Thursday, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said there are now 270 million paying subscribers to Alphabet services, with growth driven by YouTube and Google One, a consumer cloud storage service.
“Subscriptions are now a big part of the business,” Pichai said. “We continue to diversify subscription options, recently expanding our Premium Lite pilot to the US, giving users a new way to enjoy most videos on YouTube ad-free.”
The lower-priced Premium Lite tier comes with a monthly subscription fee in the US of $7.99, compared to $13.99 for a full Premium subscription and $10.99 for YouTube Music Premium.
YouTube’s Global Head of Music, Lyor Cohen, previously explained that with Premium Lite, users will get much of the content ad-free but they “may see ads on music content and Shorts, and as they search and browse.”
Overall, Alphabet reported $90.2 billion in revenue for the quarter ended March 31, an increase of 12% or 14% on a constant currency basis. That number beat analysts’ expectations of revenue around $89 billion.
Net income rose 46% YoY to $34.5 billion, equal to earnings per share of $2.81. That handily beat analysts’ expectations of $2.01, as compiled by Zacks.
“We’re pleased with our strong Q1 results, which reflect healthy growth and momentum across the business,” Pichai stated in the earnings report.
“We’re pleased with our strong Q1 results, which reflect healthy growth and momentum across the business.”
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet/Google
Asked on the earnings call whether the ongoing tariff trade war and/or signs of economic slowdown will hurt YouTube’s advertising business, Schindler said it’s “too early” to tell, but noted that a change to US import rules could negatively impact 2025 ad numbers.
As part of its tariff campaign, the Trump administration eliminated the de minimis exemption on goods from China. This exemption allowed shipments worth less than $800 to enter the US tariff-free. However, as of May 2, 2025, it will no longer apply to goods shipped from China, a move that’s expected to have a significant impact on China-based online retailers like Shein and Temu. These retailers have been major ad buyers on social media in recent years.
“The changes to the de minimis exemption will obviously cause a slight headwind to our ads business in 2025, primarily from APAC-based retailers,” Schindler told analysts on the call.
Music Business Worldwide
