Advertising revenue for Google-owned YouTube fell to $3.8 billion in the second quarter of this year, down from Q1, when itYouTube's ad revenue was still up from Q2 of 2019, when it brought in $3.6 billion, highlighting the rapid growth for the free video platform despite global circumstances impacting advertising sales and consumer demand for goods and services.
Despite the slowdown, executives at parent company Alphabet told investors in its quarterly earnings report that business was beginning to bounce back after the ad market hit the skids in mid-March, with Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat saying that the quarter saw a "gradual improvement in our ads business."in February of this year, disclosing that the video platform collected $15.1 billion in ad revenue in 2019, up from $11.1 billion in 2018 and $8.1 billion in 2017.
The company also disclosed in February that its subscription offerings, which include the live-TV replacement YouTube TV and YouTube Music, had a $3 billion annual run rate, with YouTube TV counting more than 2 million subscribers. It did not immediately offer updated figures in its latest earnings report.
Overall, Alphabet's revenue in Q2 was $38.3 billion, down from $41.1 billion last quarter and from $38.9 billion a year ago.