Google and Facebook have revealed their revenue from the global digital advertisement business during the July-September quarter of 2021.
Google digital advertising revenue rose 41 percent to $53.1 billion during the third quarter. Alphabet’s overall sales jumped to $65.1 billion.
Google generated $37.92 billion from Google Search & other, $7.2 billion from YouTube ads and $7.9 billion from Google Network during the third quarter.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, said: “Five years ago, I laid out our vision to become an AI-first company. This quarter’s results show how our investments there are enabling us to build more helpful products for people and our partners.”
Facebook revenue, which primarily consists of ad sales, rose to $29.01 billion in the third quarter from $21.47 billion a year earlier. Facebook’s advertisers were affected by the global supply-chain disruptions and labor shortages, which hurt advertising demand across a range of sectors and regions.
Facebook, which reported third-quarter profit up 17 percent, warned that Apple’s new privacy changes would weigh on its digital business in the current quarter.
David Wehner, Facebook’s chief financial officer, said the company expected its investment in its hardware division, Facebook Reality Labs, to reduce overall operating profit in 2021 by approximately $10 billion.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said Facebook in the coming years will be seen not as a social media firm but as a company focused on the metaverse. The buzzy term refers broadly to a shared virtual environment which can be accessed by people using different devices.
Facebook, which has invested heavily in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), including buying companies like Oculus, this year created a product team to work on the metaverse. This month, it said it plans to hire 10,000 employees in Europe over the next five years to work on this initiative.
For the third quarter, Facebook reported monthly active users of 2.91 billion. Facebook said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be in a range of $31.5 billion to $34 billion.
