Image Credit: YouTube

YouTube made more from ads alone in the quarter than Netflix did from their millions of monthly subscribers.

Google’s parent company Alphabet reported solid growth from YouTube in Q4 2021, with ad revenue of $8.63 billion, up 25.4% year-over-year. This is more than video streaming service Netflix’s revenue in the quarter at $7.71 billion, up 16%. Particularly impressive considering the contrast of ad-revenue against Netflix, which is entirely based on subscriber revenue. YouTube’s figure does not include revenue from the more than 50 million YouTube Premium and YouTube Music subscribers, nor YouTube TV.

Alphabet’s entire Q4 2021 revenue was reported at $75.33 billion, up 32% year-over-year, with income at $20.64 billion, up 36%, or $30.69 per share. This beat Wall Street’s earning estmates for the year-end quarter, which were at $72.13 billion in revenue and EPS of $27.32. This impressive growth saw stocks rise 11% in after-hours trading.

YouTube ended the year with $29 billion in ad revenue, up 46% over 2020. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki recently posted a 2022 Priorities letter, which detailed many key stats, such as their short-form video, TikTok competitor, YouTube Shorts hitting 5 trillion all time views. The letter goes on to list new ways in which YouTube will help creators to earn revenue, through technologies such as NFTs, and defend the company’s decision to hide the dislike counter.

Artists can earn revenue on YouTube, YouTube Shorts and YouTube Music with no upfront costs or audience size requirements, thanks to RouteNote.