YouTube Drives Google's Growth with 325 Million Subscribers and Over $60 Billion in Revenue

Google has reported significant growth in its subscription services during the fourth quarter, largely driven by the strong performance of its platform, YouTube. The platform has continued to see increases in both advertising and subscription revenues.

The Alphabet subsidiary announced that the number of paying subscribers for Google One and YouTube Premium has risen to 325million, up from 300million just three months ago, indicating a clear acceleration in growth rate.

* Advertising and Subscription Revenue

YouTube's advertising revenue grew by 9% in the fourth quarter, reaching $11.38 billion, although this fell short of analysts' expectations of $11.84 billion.

Meanwhile, total revenue from the platform, which includes both advertising and subscriptions, approached $60 billion annually, marking a 17% year-over-year increase.

Google confirmed that the ad-free YouTube Premium package, priced at approximately $8 per month, is in high demand, stating that paid subscriptions remain a key driver of growth.

* Expansion of YouTube TV Packages

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai revealed plans to expand subscription offerings, focusing on YouTube TV.

Pichai stated: "We will soon launch new plans for YouTube TV that will provide more options and flexibility, with over 10 specialized packages based on content type."

* Growth in YouTube Shorts, Podcasts, and AI

YouTube Shorts averaged 200million daily views during the quarter, maintaining similar figures from the previous year, with some markets generating higher revenue per viewing hour compared to traditional long-form video ads.

In terms of podcasts, there was notable growth, with users watching approximately 700million hours of podcast content via televisions in October alone.

Regarding artificial intelligence, the company noted that its AI-powered tools are highly popular, with over one million channels utilizing AI-backed content creation tools, while around 20million users engaged with the Gemini technology-based content discovery tool in December.