Google’s financial results have been dragged down by YouTube’s declining ad revenue for the third quarter in a row.
In Q1 2023, ad sales at YouTube fell by 2.6% YoY to $6.69bn but slightly beat analyst expectations of $6.6bn. However, the parent company, Alphabet, doesn’t break out YouTube’s subscription revenue. YouTube’s revenue dropped by 7.8% in Q4 2022 and by 1.9% in the previous quarter. The company has been promoting Shorts, its short-form video feature, to retain viewers and extend watch time. Google said Shorts now generates more than 50 billion daily views on average.
On Tuesday’s earnings call, CFO Ruth Porat said the company saw “signs of stabilization” in YouTube’s ad business on a sequential basis. CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels subscription services’ “great momentum,” but he didn’t provide specifics. The company announced the pricing for the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market games package, which will start with the 2023 season, as likely to draw in new subscribers. On YouTube, Sunday Ticket won’t require a pay-TV subscription (as DirecTV did), and the package will cost $100 lower per season for YouTube TV subscribers.
