In this week’s lengthy Q4 earnings call, the word “podcast” was mentioned six times: Three times each by Sudar Pichai (CEO, Google and Alphabet) and Philipp Schindler (Chief Business Officer, Google).
“Our early investment in podcasts is paying off,” Pichai affirmed. “We integrated podcasts into the core YouTube experience, particularly with video. We are now the most frequently used service for consuming podcasts in the U.S.” Pichai cited Edison Research for that metric.
Schindler emphasized YouTube and the visual aspect of podcasts, also relying on Edison:
“We have also invested in podcasts, where popular shows like Club Shay Shay and Lex Friedman are increasingly a visual format. YouTube creators and viewers are embracing this. In 2024, people watched over 400 million hours of podcasts each month on living room devices alone. YouTube is now the most popular service for podcast listening in the U.S., according to Edison.”
Looking at the Q4 numbers, we see year-over-year uplift for two of Google’s advertising pillars: Search, and YouTube. The overview shows Search to be more than five times as lucrative than YouTube.
Google’s detailed quarterly numbers release shows Q/Q and year-over-year gaines in double-digit percentages:
Alphabet’s 10-page results deck is freely available HERE.
