In the latest financial disclosure, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reported fourth-quarter results for 2023. Notably, advertising revenue for the YouTube video service demonstrated a noteworthy year-on-year surge of 15.5%, reaching $9.2 billion. This aligns seamlessly with the expectations of Wall Street analysts and mirrors the positive trajectory observed in the third quarter of the preceding year, in stark contrast to the nearly 8% decline in Q4 2022.
CEO’s Insights: Strength in Search, YouTube, and Cloud Services
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet and Google, expressed satisfaction with the sustained strength in search, the expanding role of YouTube, and the growth in cloud services. Pichai highlighted the pivotal role of investments and innovations in artificial intelligence, anticipating further advancements in the era he referred to as “Gemini.”
Diversification and Subscription Milestones
While Alphabet doesn’t break down revenue from subscriptions separately, Pichai disclosed that subscription services, encompassing YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV, now contribute an impressive $15 billion annually. YouTube Shorts, a short-video service competing with TikTok, boasts over 2 billion registered users monthly, with more than 70 billion short videos watched on YouTube daily, as per Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer.
As part of Alphabet’s ongoing restructuring efforts, YouTube underwent a workforce reduction of 100 employees in the past month, notes NIX Solutions. The company concluded 2023 with 182,502 employees, marking a 4.1% decrease from the previous year. Notably, Alphabet invested $2.1 billion in employee severance and related benefits over the course of the year.