Despite widespread user dislike, YouTube ads continue to be a lucrative source of revenue for the platform, raking in billions of dollars each quarter. The article explores the reasons behind YouTube's reliance on ads, despite their negative impact on user experience.
There's not much we can agree on in this world of strife and tears, but there is one opinion that's just about universal: YouTube ads suck. Want to watch a video? Watch this ad first. Want to watch another video? Watch this longer ad! Can you click past the ad before it's over? Maybe—pay close attention to find out. As for ad blockers, YouTube is doing its best to make those more hassle than they're worth. It's obnoxious as hell, and it sucks.
Given how offputting and utterly detrimental to the experience its ads are, you might fairly wonder why YouTube keeps shovelling them on. Why does it work so hard to make YouTube worse? The answer is very simple: Those hated YouTube ads make, as they say in the Canadian scientific community, a metric ass-ton of cash. A recent report reveals that YouTube ads raked in more than $10.4 billion in the quarter—to be clear, that's 10 billion smackers in just three months. That's a relatively small slice of the total Alphabet pie, which topped $96 billion (again, in three months), but it's a staggering amount of money for three months of ads on the 'Tubes. It's also a new record, marking a 14% increase over YouTube's advertising revenue in Q4 2023, which hit $9.2 billion. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai attributed much of that jump to the US election, which took place on November 5, 2024. Combined spending on YouTube ads by the Democratic and Republican parties was almost double what they spent in the 2020 elections, and more than 45 million people watched'election-related content on YouTube' on election day alone.YouTube is also seeing success with its subscription service. That goes for $14 per month or $140 per year, which strikes me as an exorbitant amount of money for, y'know, watching videos without ads. They're not alone in that assessment, because it's raking in the green too. YouTube subscription revenues aren't reported separately but are instead rolled into'Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices,' but that's up year-over-year as well, from $10.8 billion in Q4 2023 to $11.6 billion over the same period in 2024. Alphabet chief financial officer Anat Ashkenazi said during the earnings call that'we continue to have significant growth in our subscription products, primarily due to increase in the number of paid subscribers across YouTube TV, YouTube Music Premium and Google One.'Oh, but don't worry, because it'll probably get worse.'We believe that AI will revolutionize every part of the marketing value chain and, over the past quarter, we’ve seen how our customers are increasingly focusing on optimizing their use of AI,' chief business officer Philipp Schindler said.'As an example, Petco used Demand Gen campaigns across targeting, creative generation, and bidding to find new pet parent audiences across YouTube. They achieved a 275% higher return on ad spend and a 74% higher click through rate than their social benchmarks.' Schindler said later that, based on Nielsen analysis,'Google AI-powered video campaigns on YouTube deliver 17% higher return on advertising spend than manual campaigns.' So there you have it: Everyone hates YouTube ads but they make a mint, so we're stuck with them and can probably expect them to burrow even deeper into our psyches in the future unless you're willing to spend 14 bucks every month to make them go away. Maybe that's not such a terrible price to pay after all.
Business YOUTUBE ADS REVENUE AI SUBSCRIPTIONS USER EXPERIENCE
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Prince Harry told late Queen to 'suck it up' when she intervened over MeghanFormer I'm A Celeb star Lady Colin Campbell claimed that Harry had some very modern words for his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth when she had concerns about Meghan.
Read more »
NASA's lunar Roomba set to suck up Moon dirt for studyCollecting regolith samples with a blast of gas
Read more »
Gambling Ads Found Targeting Children in Popular Mobile GamesAn investigation reveals that advertisements for online gambling platforms are appearing in popular free mobile phone games downloaded through the Apple app store, raising serious concerns about the potential harm these adverts could cause to children.
Read more »
Gambling Ads Target Children on Popular Mobile GamesAn investigation reveals that children playing popular free mobile games on Apple's App Store are being exposed to gambling advertisements. Prominent gambling sites like Unibet and Tombola are advertising their services with enticing offers, raising concerns about the impact of these ads on young players.
Read more »
Clever Uber ads poke fun at holiday tropesRosie Hilder is Creative Bloq's Deputy Editor. After beginning her career in journalism in Argentina – where she worked as Deputy Editor of Time Out Buenos Aires – she moved back to the UK and joined Future Plc in 2016. Since then, she's worked as Operations Editor on magazines including Computer Arts, 3D World and Paint & Draw and Mac|Life.
Read more »
Naga Munchetty 'Mortified' By Scammers Using Fake Images in Online AdsBBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty has been targeted by scammers who used her image in misleading online advertisements. The ads led to fake BBC News websites designed to steal money from unsuspecting users. Munchetty and other public figures like Chris Packham have spoken out against these scams, highlighting the growing threat of online impersonation and the need for stronger measures to protect individuals from falling victim to such schemes.
Read more »