Google has always been a bit secretive about the amount of money it makes from some of the company’s major services, such as Google Play and YouTube. Numerous tech enthusiasts have always wondered how Google’s total revenue is dispersed between its many services, as only six income sources are typically disclosed when the company talks about its overall financial status, sources such as ad revenue from Google’s websites and Network Members’ websites are included in a detailed manner, but the other four are rather vague and don’t actually inform where the revenue comes from. Google is one of the biggest and most important companies of the whole world, making around $17.3 billion each quarter in sales, it is no wonder why the public wants to know a more detailed explanation for this quite elevated number. Today, Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju, finally responded and disclosed the total income Google is most likely making from two of its major services, namely YouTube and Google Play.
Google is known for a major lack of transparency when it comes to the company’s finances, as the only disclosed facts are the ad revenue from Google’s own websites with $12 billion, ad revenue from members of Google’s network with $3.6 billion, and “other” revenues which account for a total of $1.7 billion; the internet giant also ambiguously defines where its revenue comes from, with 43% from the United States, 10% from the United Kingdom, and 47% from the rest of the world. This overall deficiency in transparency lead the financial services company, Morgan Stanley, to demand a more detailed sales report from Google, with the main argument being that investors had to know exactly how the company was growing and if the stock was actually going to be worth more.
After Google failed to meet Morgan Stanley’s demand, Credit Suisse analyst Stephen Ju and his team stepped up and began tracking Google’s revenue from the company’s advertising clients. The Credit Suisse team discovered that Google Play and Youtube together account for at least 15% of Google’s total revenues. The team strongly believes that the revenue contribution from YouTube and Google Play have risen to 15% in 2015, coming from a mere 4% in 2010. This is rather impressive as the growth trajectory shows that by the year 2020, the contribution will continue to grow and reach 24% by 2020.
