Google says 2 billion logged in monthly users are watching YouTube Shorts

Google said today that more than 2 billion logged-in monthly users are watching YouTube Shorts, giving it an edge over competitors like TikTok and Instagram Reels. This number is up from 1.5 billion monthly logged-in users for YouTube Shorts announced last year.

During its Q2 2023 results, Google also said that YouTube brought in $7.67 billion through ads, beating analyst estimates and registering a growth of 4% year-on-year. The company is also bringing 30-second unskippable ads to its premium ad offering YouTube Select.

The company is focusing on multiple offerings through YouTube apart from ads. In April, it started offering pre-sales of the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription, which will stream in the Fall. YouTube has also reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery to offer a Max-NFL Sunday TIcket bundle on YouTube TV.

Google said that it is reaching 150 million people on Connected TV screens in the U.S. with signs of global growth. Last year, the company announced it had 80 million paid users across YouTube Premium and Music, but didn’t provide an update on the number during the Q2 2023 earnings call. Last week, YouTube raised the prices of the individual premium plan by $2 and the Music plan by $1in the U.S.

Google had positive quarterly results with growth in ad and cloud revenues. The company brought in $74.6 billion for the quarter ending June — up from $69.7 billion it made in Q2 2022. Alphabet shares were up nearly 7% in after-hours trading.

Additionally, Alphabet elevated Ruth Porat from Chief Financial Officer to the president and chief investment officer role. With this promotion, Porat will oversee Aplhabet’s other divisions such as self-driving company Waymo, health-focused Verily, and Google Fiber.