YouTube parent company Alphabet reported today that its video giant clocked $6 billion in ad revenues in the first quarter 2021, a 49% year-over-year increase. (YouTube clocked $4 billion in ad revs in Q1 2020).
This does not include revenues derived from other YouTube products, including YouTube Premium and YouTube TV. All told, Alphabet posted revenues of $55 billion last quarter — besting analyst estimates of $52 billion, per Variety.
“Over the last year, people have turned to Google Search and many online services to stay informed, connected, and entertained,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement. “We’ve continued our focus on delivering trusted services to help people around the world.”
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Pichai also noted that YouTube’s Shorts product — a TikTok competitor — is garnering 6.5 billion daily views, which represents a substantial uptick over the 3.5 billion daily views that it was clocking in late January.
In Q4 2020, YouTube generated $6.9 billion in advertising revenues. At the time, YouTube said it more than doubled the number of advertisers purchasing its skippable TrueView ads.