In its latest earnings report for Q2 2023, Google revealed that YouTube Shorts has surged past 2 billion logged-in monthly users, positioning it ahead of competitors like TikTok and Instagram Reels.
This impressive figure represents a significant increase from the 1.5 billion monthly logged-in users reported last year. Google’s advertising revenue from YouTube has also seen a substantial boost, with a total of $7.67 billion generated through ads during the second quarter.
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This surpassed analyst estimates and marked a healthy 4% year-on-year growth. In a move to enhance its premium ad offering, YouTube Select, the company is introducing 30-second unskippable ads.
Apart from ads, Google is actively expanding its offerings on YouTube. In April, it initiated pre-sales for the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription, scheduled to stream in the upcoming Fall.
Additionally, an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery has been reached to provide a Max-NFL Sunday Ticket bundle on YouTube TV.
Google’s influence is increasingly evident on connected TV screens, reaching a staggering 150 million people, and displaying promising growth globally.
Although the company had previously disclosed 80 million paid users across YouTube Premium and Music last year, no updated figures were provided during the Q2 2023 earnings call.
Notably, YouTube recently implemented a price increase of $2 for its individual premium plan and $1 for the Music plan in the U.S.
The Q2 2023 results also highlighted Google’s overall positive quarterly performance, driven by substantial growth in both ad and cloud revenues.
The company recorded an impressive $74.6 billion for the quarter ending in June, compared to $69.7 billion during the same period in 2022. Consequently, Alphabet shares saw a remarkable surge of nearly 7% in after-hours trading.
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In a noteworthy personnel change, Alphabet promoted Ruth Porat from Chief Financial Officer to the position of President and Chief Investment Officer.
With this new role, Porat will now oversee Alphabet’s various divisions, including self-driving company Waymo, health-focused Verily, and Google Fiber.
