YouTube posts $11.2 billion in Q3 ad revenue, up 9%

YouTube booked $11.2 billion in advertising revenue in the third quarter of 2026, up 9% from a year earlier. Premium and Music subscriptions reached a record 150 million.

Philipp Schindler, Alphabet's chief business officer, said living room TV viewing now accounts for one-third of YouTube's total ad revenue. He named deeper brand partnerships between Google and advertisers as the largest contribution to ad growth. He also pointed to the YouTube Shopping partnership with Amazon.

Creators and subscriptions

"Our YouTube Creator Partnerships program connects brands with over 3 million creators to drive highly effective campaigns," Schindler said. He cited Lexus working with creators Colin and Samir, with an 11% lift in brand consideration.

Premium subscriptions are not broken out as a separate figure in the earnings. Schindler suggested the lower-priced Premium Lite tier helped push the subscriber count to its current high. "As more people opt into premium experiences, it's a win for viewers, creators, and our business," he said.

Direct creator income from Channel Memberships, Super Thanks and Super Chats, where YouTube keeps 30%, got no mention on the call.

CEO Sundar Pichai spent little time on YouTube. He repeated the 150 million subscriber figure and the TV share of ad revenue. For creators he pointed to last month's Made on YouTube event, where the company announced more than 30 products and features. One example was custom feeds, which build a home feed around a topic the viewer picks.

Alphabet overall

The parent company reported revenue of $127.6 billion against analyst expectations of $128.2 billion. Cash flow was negative $9.07 billion, a second straight quarter in the red after the second-quarter figure, which was the first negative result since Google went public in 2004. The shortfall is $5.9 billion further into the red than in Q2. Alphabet's stock fell 10%.

Chief financial officer Anat Ashkenazi told investors the company continues to expect capital expenditure to increase significantly in 2027, with AI spending among the drivers.

Source: Tubefilter