Google finally discloses YouTube ad revenue and it’s mind boggling

We finally know how much Google is making from ads on YouTube.

Google took in more than $15 billion from YouTube ads in 2019, the company revealed. That doesn’t include other sources of revenue from the video platform, including subscriptions. 

Google disclosed the numbers, along with revenue for its growing cloud business, for the first time ahead of Alphabet’s fourth-quarter earnings call. 

“I’m really pleased with our continued progress in Search and in building two of our newer growth areas — YouTube, already at $15 billion in annual ad revenue, and Cloud, which is now on a $10 billion revenue run rate,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement. 

The new disclosure also highlights just how quickly YouTube’s ad revenue has grown, with ad revenue nearly doubling since 2017 when the video platform took in $8.1 billion. 

Up until now, Google has declined to break out YouTube’re revenue, which has been a source of much speculation. 

This story is developing…