On Monday, Feb. 3, YouTube and Google parent Alphabet disclosed for the first time specific revenue figures for the world’s most popular on-demand video hub.
For fiscal 2019, the revenue for YouTube advertising was in the billions.
It was a bit more than what U.S. radio broadcasters have likely attracted during the same period.
According to Alphabet, YouTube ads accounted for $15.15 billion in revenue in fiscal 2019, up from $11.16 billion for the previous year.
Uh-oh. If BIA Advisory Network’s July 2019 projections for the year came true, radio’s overall revenue will have increased by $300,000, to $14.5 billion for the year.
That puts YouTube ahead of the entire radio industry, from a revenue standpoint.
Adding salt to the wound is data that show the slight increase for radio is coming from additional digital revenue, while over-the-air revenue continues to slip.
Then, there is Statista’s review of radio advertising revenue in the U.S. from 2012 to 2021.
This is a slightly better look at radio dollars than what BIA projects, and shows $18.49 billion in total ad revenue for all of U.S. radio in 2019, rising by $200 million in 2020.
Still, the YouTube results are worth noting for several reasons. First, in Q4 2019 alone YouTube ad revenue was $4.72 billion. This compares to $3.61 billion in Q4 2018.
