Google Ads was driven by mobile traffic, yet changed users’ behaviors and reduced advertising budget slowed it down: The overall growth Q1 was primarily driven by increases in search queries (given the increased user adoption and usage during COVID-19) especially on mobile devices,growth in advertiser activity, and improvementsin ad formats and delivery. Revenue declined in March driven by a change in behaviors of users, shifted to less commercial topics, and reduced advertisers’ spending.
YouTubeAds was driven by brand advertising: Growth was driven by the direct response and brand advertising products, thanks to improved ad formats and delivery and increased advertiser spending. March was slower due to the impact of COVID-19.
Network members’ revenues were driven by AdMob: The mobile platform AdMob primarily drove revenue grown nonetheless the decline in revenues in March due to COVID-19.
GPC drove Google Cloud revenues: Google Cloud, primarily comprises of Google Cloud Platform (“GCP”) made of infrastructure, data, analytics, and other services; G Suite productivity tools; and other enterprisecloud services. The growth was primarily driven by continued strength in our GCP and G Suite offerings.
Google’s other revenues were primarily driven by YouTube subscriptions and Google Play
What’s happening next?
Google core business model is primarily driven by advertising, therefore:
We might see the further impact of the pandemic on Q2 financials
The data so far confirms increased traffic and searches, yet also reduced advertisers’ spending and changed users’ behaviors (queries might be less commercial)
That is why Google has announced aggressive cuts to its marketing budget to focus on strategic activities
It has also announced the opening of its Google Shopping to (to prevent users to fly on other e-commerce platforms and to prevent to lose the forced e-commerce wave we’re living)
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
