Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), the owner of search engine Google, posted record numbers for the final quarter of 2020 after a surge in ad spending.
Revenues in the three months to end-December jumped by 23% over a year ago to US$56.9bn, while for 2020 overall there was a 13% rise to US$182.6bn.
It was the second quarter running that the Google-owner had posted record revenues.
Advertising sales, which includes YouTube, contributed 81% of the fourth-quarter total.
For the first time, Alphabet also split out Google Cloud’s contribution, which chipped in revenues of US$13bn for the year and US$3.8bn for the quarter.
Group earnings in the final three months soared 68% to US$15.6bn while for 2020 in total Alphabet posted net income of US$41.2bn, a 20% increase even with losses at Google Cloud of US$5.6bn and at what was described as other bets of US$4.48bn.
Ruth Porat, CFO of Google and Alphabet, said in the statement: “Our strong fourth-quarter performance, with revenues of $56.9bn, was driven by Search and YouTube, as consumer and business activity recovered from earlier in the year.
"Google Cloud revenues were $13.1bn for 2020, with significant ongoing momentum,” she added.
Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer, reiterated in a conference call that Youtube was a key driver behind the better-than-expected performance.
“Our brand business was hit hard in the early stages of the pandemic, but rebounded in Q3 and into Q4. It really helps advertisers reach a younger audience.”
“We now reach more 18-to 49-year-olds than all linear TV networks combined,” he added.
Google is facing a number of headwinds in the current year, including the possibility of multiple anti-monopoly writs aimed at the dominance of its search engine business.
Shares rose strongly on the results but later eased back to US$1,919.12, a gain of 1.4%.