13 ms·

Alphabet announces Q3 2020 earnings

154 points by jhatax 6y ago

jhatax 6y ago
Revenue growth across the board: advertising (YouTube) and other properties, Google Cloud leading the charge. Based on Pinterest, FB earnings (and Twitter soon), it looks like ad sales have rebounded in a strong way.
- actuator 6y ago
  I wonder what's replacing the ads from travel(hotels, flights, packages). Stock seems 6% up after hours, that does make sense. It had relatively gained less compared to FB from pandemic lows.
  - pgoggijr 6y ago
    My youtube experience has consisted of about 50% political ads for a while now - would be interesting to see some insights into their total share of the pie.
    - andrewprock 6y ago
      You must live in a swing state. I get zero political ads in CA.
      - strulovich 6y ago
        Some people not in swing states such as I are getting endless ads to donate to campaigns.
      - pgoggijr 6y ago
        I'm in New Jersey which is pretty consistently and firmly blue. Hammered with ads from both sides.
      - mwambua 6y ago
        I've gotten quite a few political ads in the last few weeks. (CA with ad personalization turned off)
      - lern_too_spel 6y ago
        Proposition 22 ads everywhere.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - takeda 6y ago
        You don't get ads asking for donation? CA appears to be politicians' (from both parties) ATM.
      - grandmczeb 6y ago
        I just opened the YT app and a Joe Biden ad is literally the first thing I see at the top. I’m in CA.
    - jeffbee 6y ago
      The experience of ads on youtube must be misery. A YouTube sub is the best $15 you can spend.
      - eznzt 6y ago
        Or an ad blocker...
        Nemant 6y ago
        They don't work, do they? I tried a few but nothing works. I'm on Chrome on Mac.
        gpm 6y ago
        Unlock origin works for me, on chrome and firefox, Linux and windows.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
    - city41 6y ago
      And it seems the number of ads has increased a good deal. I tend to get a 2 ad block about every 4-6 minutes now.
  - elorant 6y ago
    I wonder what's replacing the ads from travel(hotels, flights, packages). e-commerce, cooking apparatus and whatnot. Tupperware's stock has increased x15 since May. People spending more time at home leads them to cook and store food more often.
    - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
      Although it's worth noting that Tupperware is also an MLM, so a lot of that 15x might not have much to do with their products as such.
actuator 6y ago
Personal observations: - No mention of YT subscription revenue? Does that mean it is low. Considering Netflix success, I am assuming there is a lot of ground to be gained there. - GCP revenue at $3B seems quite low compared to even what MS reported. Their cloud(Azure + office?) revenue was $16B if I am not mistaken - Dip in capital expenditure from $7 to $5 billion. I am assuming GCP and data center expansion went fine, but a lot of office related costs have been reduced.
- notyourwork 6y ago
  How much is office and how much Azure? I presume that’s a big part of the difference. Regarding YT, it’s a different service than Netflix so not as comparable IMO.
  - lokar 6y ago
    I think it's safe to assume that Office is much much more than Azure, or they would break it out to look better.
  - actuator 6y ago
    YT is certainly different than Netflix but I would put YT above Netflix on potential. I think YT is much more valuable to human civilization in general. If we consider it as a knowledge bank which has everything from learning a new recipe to something as specific as operating a drill to empowering content like lecture videos on coursework. Recently I saw professional quality BBC like nature documentaries on YT. The importance of it is far more and that's why I think the subscription revenue potential is also far more. Whether they can convince people to go ad free and pay for it is a different matter. My friend who pays for Apple Music, Netflix, Disney+, iCloud and a bunch of other subscriptions was complaining about YT ads. It boggled my mind that considering his usage, he didn't pay for the premium plan.
    - uniqueid 6y ago
      YT is much more valuable to human civilization in general Netflix might be a safer bet, for that reason. I think many people, including people with standing and influence, would prefer Earth's public repository of historical video not be under the control of one amoral, ad-driven monopoly. Netflix still has competitors, and the stakes are lower.
loufe 6y ago
Anybody who watches much Youtube has surely seen the uptick in ads over the last year or so. That's clearly reflected in the increased revenue on that front.
- blibble 6y ago
  youtube has ads?
  - augusto-moura 6y ago
    If you are using desktop and a adblock probably not, but if you are using the mobile app...
    - babas 6y ago
      If you use Android Youtube Vanced is really awesome. Removes ads and has function for skipping in-video annoyances (sponsors, intros, etc) https://vancedapp.com/ https://vancedapp.com/
      - augusto-moura 6y ago
        Seems really cool but it doesn't look open source, there's any security guarantees within the app? I'm really paranoid of where a put my Google account credentials
        blibble 6y ago
        I use a second account just for it they're free to steal it if they want
        babas 6y ago
        I'm pretty sure it's modded version of the official youtube app so no guarantees (Just use a dummy account?). I'm actually very interested in how the vanced developer has made this. This app is pretty much identical to the youtube app with premium features enabled and ad/sponsor bocking/skipping.
gigatexal 6y ago
Anyone spot the line item where they pay Apple the billions for default placement on iOS?
- gundmc 6y ago
  I'm not sure if you're just trying to stir the pot, but it's included as TAC (traffic acquisition costs) and has clearly been reported every quarter for years.
  - totalZero 6y ago
    Pretty sure it's just an attempt to stir the pot. The user made a similar comment on the submission for Apple's earnings. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24936191 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24936191
    - vaccinator 6y ago
      Nobody answered the first time
- gigatexal 6y ago
  Not trying to stir the pot just not so great at reading financial statements. Seriously not trolling here I was merely trying to verify the news headlines in the financials
  - donor20 6y ago
    The news is making a big deal about "secret" traffic aquisition costs - but the financials have covered these costs in a lot of detail over time - so it's not really new news. All the other players do / have done the same thing. Bing is probably paying Duck Duck Go? Yahoo may have paid mozilla for firefox traffic etc.
oyra 6y ago
so how much revenue of this 'tech' giant come from the tech? 1% or 1.4%?
howlgarnish 6y ago
Comparison of the big three cloud players' earnings: MS "Intelligent Cloud" $13.0B (Azure up 48% YoY but not broken out, rest is "server and cloud services" up 22% YoY) AWS: $10.8B (up 28% YoY) Google Cloud: $3.4B (up 45% YoY), includes Workspace (fka G Suite) TL;DR: AWS is still #1, but Azure is catching up fast and Google is growing faster too.
- donor20 6y ago
  Half of the GCP revenue may be workspaces / gsuite - which would make GCP tiny by comparison to AWS. I'm really surprised at how low those numbers are for google cloud.

154 points by jhatax 6y ago

Revenue growth across the board: advertising (YouTube) and other properties, Google Cloud leading the charge. Based on Pinterest, FB earnings (and Twitter soon), it looks like ad sales have rebounded in a strong way.

actuator 6y ago
I wonder what's replacing the ads from travel(hotels, flights, packages). Stock seems 6% up after hours, that does make sense. It had relatively gained less compared to FB from pandemic lows.
- pgoggijr 6y ago
  My youtube experience has consisted of about 50% political ads for a while now - would be interesting to see some insights into their total share of the pie.
  - andrewprock 6y ago
    You must live in a swing state. I get zero political ads in CA.
    - strulovich 6y ago
      Some people not in swing states such as I are getting endless ads to donate to campaigns.
    - pgoggijr 6y ago
      I'm in New Jersey which is pretty consistently and firmly blue. Hammered with ads from both sides.
    - mwambua 6y ago
      I've gotten quite a few political ads in the last few weeks. (CA with ad personalization turned off)
    - lern_too_spel 6y ago
      Proposition 22 ads everywhere.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - takeda 6y ago
      You don't get ads asking for donation? CA appears to be politicians' (from both parties) ATM.
    - grandmczeb 6y ago
      I just opened the YT app and a Joe Biden ad is literally the first thing I see at the top. I’m in CA.
  - jeffbee 6y ago
    The experience of ads on youtube must be misery. A YouTube sub is the best $15 you can spend.
    - eznzt 6y ago
      Or an ad blocker...
      - Nemant 6y ago
        They don't work, do they? I tried a few but nothing works. I'm on Chrome on Mac.
        gpm 6y ago
        Unlock origin works for me, on chrome and firefox, Linux and windows.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
  - city41 6y ago
    And it seems the number of ads has increased a good deal. I tend to get a 2 ad block about every 4-6 minutes now.
- elorant 6y ago
  I wonder what's replacing the ads from travel(hotels, flights, packages). e-commerce, cooking apparatus and whatnot. Tupperware's stock has increased x15 since May. People spending more time at home leads them to cook and store food more often.
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    Although it's worth noting that Tupperware is also an MLM, so a lot of that 15x might not have much to do with their products as such.

actuator 6y ago

Personal observations: - No mention of YT subscription revenue? Does that mean it is low. Considering Netflix success, I am assuming there is a lot of ground to be gained there. - GCP revenue at $3B seems quite low compared to even what MS reported. Their cloud(Azure + office?) revenue was $16B if I am not mistaken - Dip in capital expenditure from $7 to $5 billion. I am assuming GCP and data center expansion went fine, but a lot of office related costs have been reduced.

notyourwork 6y ago
How much is office and how much Azure? I presume that’s a big part of the difference. Regarding YT, it’s a different service than Netflix so not as comparable IMO.
- lokar 6y ago
  I think it's safe to assume that Office is much much more than Azure, or they would break it out to look better.
- actuator 6y ago
  YT is certainly different than Netflix but I would put YT above Netflix on potential. I think YT is much more valuable to human civilization in general. If we consider it as a knowledge bank which has everything from learning a new recipe to something as specific as operating a drill to empowering content like lecture videos on coursework. Recently I saw professional quality BBC like nature documentaries on YT. The importance of it is far more and that's why I think the subscription revenue potential is also far more. Whether they can convince people to go ad free and pay for it is a different matter. My friend who pays for Apple Music, Netflix, Disney+, iCloud and a bunch of other subscriptions was complaining about YT ads. It boggled my mind that considering his usage, he didn't pay for the premium plan.
  - uniqueid 6y ago
    YT is much more valuable to human civilization in general Netflix might be a safer bet, for that reason. I think many people, including people with standing and influence, would prefer Earth's public repository of historical video not be under the control of one amoral, ad-driven monopoly. Netflix still has competitors, and the stakes are lower.

loufe 6y ago

Anybody who watches much Youtube has surely seen the uptick in ads over the last year or so. That's clearly reflected in the increased revenue on that front.

blibble 6y ago
youtube has ads?
- augusto-moura 6y ago
  If you are using desktop and a adblock probably not, but if you are using the mobile app...
  - babas 6y ago
    If you use Android Youtube Vanced is really awesome. Removes ads and has function for skipping in-video annoyances (sponsors, intros, etc) https://vancedapp.com/ https://vancedapp.com/
    - augusto-moura 6y ago
      Seems really cool but it doesn't look open source, there's any security guarantees within the app? I'm really paranoid of where a put my Google account credentials
      - blibble 6y ago
        I use a second account just for it they're free to steal it if they want
      - babas 6y ago
        I'm pretty sure it's modded version of the official youtube app so no guarantees (Just use a dummy account?). I'm actually very interested in how the vanced developer has made this. This app is pretty much identical to the youtube app with premium features enabled and ad/sponsor bocking/skipping.

gigatexal 6y ago

Anyone spot the line item where they pay Apple the billions for default placement on iOS?

gundmc 6y ago
I'm not sure if you're just trying to stir the pot, but it's included as TAC (traffic acquisition costs) and has clearly been reported every quarter for years.
- totalZero 6y ago
  Pretty sure it's just an attempt to stir the pot. The user made a similar comment on the submission for Apple's earnings. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24936191 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24936191
  - vaccinator 6y ago
    Nobody answered the first time
gigatexal 6y ago
Not trying to stir the pot just not so great at reading financial statements. Seriously not trolling here I was merely trying to verify the news headlines in the financials
- donor20 6y ago
  The news is making a big deal about "secret" traffic aquisition costs - but the financials have covered these costs in a lot of detail over time - so it's not really new news. All the other players do / have done the same thing. Bing is probably paying Duck Duck Go? Yahoo may have paid mozilla for firefox traffic etc.

oyra 6y ago

so how much revenue of this 'tech' giant come from the tech? 1% or 1.4%?

howlgarnish 6y ago

Comparison of the big three cloud players' earnings: MS "Intelligent Cloud" $13.0B (Azure up 48% YoY but not broken out, rest is "server and cloud services" up 22% YoY) AWS: $10.8B (up 28% YoY) Google Cloud: $3.4B (up 45% YoY), includes Workspace (fka G Suite) TL;DR: AWS is still #1, but Azure is catching up fast and Google is growing faster too.

donor20 6y ago
Half of the GCP revenue may be workspaces / gsuite - which would make GCP tiny by comparison to AWS. I'm really surprised at how low those numbers are for google cloud.