YouTube’s Ad Business Hit $9.88 Billion Last Quarter

• Share on Facebook
• Share on X
• Google Preferred
• Share to Flipboard
• Show additional share options
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Whats App
• Send an Email
• Print the Article
• Post a Comment

YouTube’s ad business hit $9.88 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 10.7 percent year-over-year, but just below Wall Street expectations. 

Google Services revenue increased 16 percent to $89.6 billion, led by 19 percent growth in Google Search and more, 19 percent growth in Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices, and 11 percent growth in YouTube ads. 

On the earnings call, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, said that viewers are watching more than 200 million hours of YouTube content daily. As of March, YouTube now has more than 10 million channels now publishing shorts every day. Momentum is also growing in subscriptions, as In Q1, YouTube music and premium offering saw its largest quarterly increase in the total number of non-trial subscribers since YouTube Premium launched in June 2018

Overall, the number of paid subscribers across YouTube premium as well as Google One, Alphabet’s storage business, have hit 340 million, up from 325 million the prior quarter.

Alphabet reported Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion, up 22 percent year-over-year and net income of $62.6 billion. Both came in above analyst expectations.

 “2026 is off to a terrific start. Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business. Search had a strong quarter with AI experiences driving usage, queries at an all time high, and 19% revenue growth. Google Cloud revenues grew 63% with backlog nearly doubling quarter on quarter to over $460 billion. This was our strongest quarter ever for our consumer AI plans, driven by the Gemini App. Overall the number of paid subscriptions has now reached 350 million, with YouTube and Google One being the key drivers,” Pichai said.

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

• Writers Guild of America

  The Writers Guild West’s Struggle With Its Staff Union Gets Even Uglier