Google-owner Alphabet spends $14.72 billion on sales & marketing in FY25
Google’s advertising revenue climbed to $71.3 billion from $64.6 billion a year earlier, a 10.4 percent increase, with YouTube ad revenue jumping 13 percent to $9.8 billion. Compared to the previous quarter, ad revenue was up 6.6 percent, matching the sequential growth in overall revenue, while profit rose 2.17 percent.
ADVERTISEMENT
Alphabet’s Sales and Marketing expenses increased by 4.6% year-over-year in the June quarter (from $6.79 billion to $7.10 billion). On a year-to-date basis, spending rose by 11.4% (from $13.22 billion in 2024 to $14.72 billion in 2025). This suggests a steady uptick in promotional or customer acquisition efforts, possibly tied to expanding AI products, platform competition, or new market strategies.
Highlighting the company’s momentum as it leans into artificial intelligence and its core advertising business. The company posted a 14% year-over-year rise in revenue to $96.43 billion, while net income climbed 19% to $28.2 billion. Operating income grew 14% to $31.27 billion, with services revenue up 12% to $82.5 billion.
Google’s advertising revenue climbed to $71.3 billion from $64.6 billion a year earlier, a 10.4 percent increase, with YouTube ad revenue jumping 13 percent to $9.8 billion. Compared to the previous quarter, ad revenue was up 6.6 percent, matching the sequential growth in overall revenue, while profit rose 2.17 percent.
Search, Google’s largest business, benefited from the company’s aggressive rollout of AI features, including AI Mode, which launched in the United States and India, and AI Overviews, now available in more than 200 countries and territories. Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s chief executive, emphasized that these additions are driving increased user engagement.
“AI Overviews now has over 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories and 40 languages,” Pichai said, noting that the features are prompting users to search more frequently, especially among younger audiences.
Pichai described the quarter as a reflection of the company’s strong positioning in artificial intelligence. “We had a standout quarter, with robust growth across the company. We are leading at the frontier of AI and shipping at an incredible pace. AI is positively impacting every part of the business, driving strong momentum. Search delivered double-digit revenue growth, and our new features, like AI Overviews and AI Mode, are performing well,” he said.
Beyond Search, Alphabet continues to see strength across its portfolio. YouTube’s ad and subscription businesses expanded, while Shorts, its short-form video offering, now generates as much revenue per watch hour in the United States as traditional instream ads. “In some countries, it now even exceeds instream's rate,” Pichai said.
Alphabet’s cloud division also posted gains, with Google Cloud revenues rising 32 percent to $13.6 billion, driven by demand for AI products and infrastructure. “Nearly all gen AI unicorns use Google Cloud,” Pichai said, as the division’s annual revenue run rate now exceeds $50 billion, with new Google Cloud Platform customers increasing nearly 28 percent from the previous quarter.
