Google's second quarter earnings report put the spotlight on the growth of mobile and YouTube.
On Thursday, July 16, Google revealed its financial results for the quarter ended June 30. Adjusted earnings per share was $6.99, and analysts expected it to be $6.70 per share.
"Our strong Q2 results reflect continued growth across the breadth of our products, most notably core search, where mobile stood out, as well as YouTube and programmatic advertising," said Ruth Porat, CFO of Google. "We are focused every day on developing big new opportunities across a wide range of businesses. We will do so with great care regarding resource allocation."
Google reported revenue of $17.7 billion for Q2, which is 11 percent higher than Q2 2014 and 3 percent higher than Q1 2015.
Omid Kordestani, chief business officer of Google, says Internet users in 10 nations made more searches on mobile devices than on computers, which is the reason why the company is putting more focus on a better mobile experience.
Kordestani also confirmed that about 30 percent of all mobile searches are location-based, which shows that people want to know what is relevant around them.
Porat also revealed that strong YouTube growth led to a surge in sales of TrueView ads, which allows viewers to skip ads after five seconds. The total number of advertisers who run ads on YouTube has also increased by 40 percent.
The average YouTube viewing time has also increased by more than 40 minutes in the quarter, which is up by more than 50 percent when compared to the same quarter of 2014. People between 18 and 49 years old watch YouTube on mobile more than they watch cable TV.
Google's Q2 financial report highlights that YouTube has experienced a 16 percent growth rate.
Paul Verna, a senior analyst at eMarketer, explains that some strategies that Google has implemented over the past two years have helped YouTube witness growth. YouTube has worked closely with content creators to produce high-quality media. The video-sharing website has also introduced auto-play features and worked on improving mobile experience.
"This speaks to the success of their transformation from a repository of very hard-to-find and very hard-to-monetize user-uploaded content to more professionally produced and easier to monetize content," stated Verna.
Following the financial results announcement, Google's stock surged by 11 percent on NASDAQ.
Photo: Meneame Comunicacions, SL | Flickr
