Google reported another strong quarter, with revenue up 18% year over year to $113.8 billion. One of the biggest drivers: YouTube, of course, which also crossed a major milestone.
For full-year 2025, YouTube generated more than $60 billion (!) in revenue across ads and subscriptions. In Q4 alone, YouTube ad revenue jumped 9% year over year to $11.4 billion, fueled by direct response buyers.
On the call, execs also pointed to continued momentum in Shorts and connected TV viewing — two areas that are quickly becoming central to how YouTube makes money.
Why This Matters:
YouTube’s results reinforce just how important it has become to Google’s overall growth — and how much its ad business is evolving.
Ad growth is increasingly being driven by direct response. That helps explain why YouTube still delivered solid Q4 ad growth despite tough year-over-year comps tied to heavy U.S. election spending in the year prior. Performance budgets are more durable and predictable, obviously, than brand dollars that can swing with the calendar.
Shorts and CTV are also massive growth opportunities for YouTube. Google said that Shorts is monetizing at or above traditional in-stream video on a per-hour basis in some markets, including the U.S. They also said living-room viewing continues to push YouTube deeper into the TV / TV ads conversation. Taken together, Shorts and CTV are reshaping how and where YouTube makes money, with plenty of runway for growth.
Execs on the call also leaned hard on the idea that YouTube ads and subscriptions should be viewed as one ecosystem. As users move between ad-supported viewing and paid products like YouTube Music and Premium, ad revenue can fluctuate short term, but overall monetization improves. That framing helps explain how YouTube cleared $60 billion in annual revenue and why Google thinks there’s still plenty of room to expand ad formats, commerce integrations, and CTV capabilities.
Experts React:
Here are some quick reactions to the YouTube earnings news:
Our Take:
YouTube is starting to look more like a full-funnel advertising platform given all of the capabilities and opportunities for buyers. Direct response is doing more of the heavy lifting, Shorts is proving it can monetize at scale, and CTV is a core pillar and has a lot of juice given how TV viewing is changing. YouTube is TV – that’s more obvious than ever, we think.
