YouTube Ad Revenue Climbs 10%, Helping Alphabet Q1 Results Beat Wall Street Estimates

Alphabet handily beat Wall Street analysts’ estimates for earnings per share in the first quarter and also topped revenue expectations thanks in part to YouTube advertising.

The tech giant reported total revenue of $90.2 billion, up 12% from the year-ago period, with earnings per share of $2.81. Analysts had expected revenue of $89.15 billion and earnings per share of $2.01.

Shares in Alphabet surged 5% in after-hours trading on the quarterly numbers, after an increase of 2% during the regular trading day.

YouTube ad revenue climbed 10% to $8.9 billion.

The earnings report came amid a noisy period for the tech sector, and for Alphabet in particular. A federal judge earlier this month ruled that Google‘s ad tech business operated as an illegal monopoly. The remedy that will follow the decision could break up the company, or at least separate its Chrome web browser business from the rest of the portfolio.

YouTube this week celebrated its 20th anniversary, announcing that 20 billion videos have been uploaded to the platform since the beginning.

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