AppleInsider Staff
In an interview on Thursday, YouTube's vice president of sales Lucas Watson disclosed that mobile ad sales have tripled over the past six months, suggesting the removal of Apple's ad-free version formerly baked into iOS was a key factor in driving revenue.
Mobile ads contributed an estimated $350 million to YouTube's revenue over the past half year, reports Bloomberg, as about one quarter of the Internet video service's 1 billion users consumed content from mobile devices.
While not mentioned by Watson, a key driver to the boom in ad revenue could be Apple's decision to deprecate its in-house YouTube app from iOS. In response to the move, Google launched a standalone YouTube app in Apple's App Store just days before iOS 6 debuted in September of 2012 which, as AppleInsider reported at the time, freed the company to show ads ahead of popular videos.
“The commercial business has exploded,†Watson said. “It’s a huge part of our business, and we know that’s where it’s headed.â€
The publication cited estimates from Wedge Partners Corp. analyst Martin Pyykkonen, who said YouTube generates roughly 10 percent of Google's total revenue. Further, the analyst estimated mobile ads account for 20 to 25 of YouTube's ad sales, meaning the sector contributed as much as $350 million to the Internet search giant's reported $14 billion in sales last quarter.
As part of its countdown to the App Store's 50 billionth download, Apple in May announced the most-downloaded apps of all time, with YouTube showing up at the number four spot for free apps.
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52 Comments
Holy shit. Stats like this just so the massive difference in usage between iOS and Android devices. It's unreal. Android fanatics keep gloating about how Android sales are destroying iPhone sales, yet howcome when a youtube app comes out on iOS ad revenue is TRIPLED?
Take the money, Google, and stick it aside for a rainy day. Because your business practices are making many of us hear thunder in the distance...
Google now has the ability to track, store, and monetize your YouTube experience Apple did not allow this before in the native app The contrast between the companies could not be more made more stark than this example
"While not mentioned by Watson, a key driver to the boom in ad revenue COULD be Apple's decision to deprecate its in-house YouTube app from iOS." The body of the article is far less certain than the title of the article. You might update the title to read: "Apple's removal of built-in YouTube iOS app could be contributing to tripling of mobile ad sales"
@jd, Google replace Apple's YouTube app with one of its own, which made the money. That's what the article is about. To fight Google, Apple should offer a no-cost ad-free video service with their own app. This might challenge YouTubes dominance and cut into googles income. Of course google would probably sue Apple over this. I still don't understand why people think Apple has to allow any app on their system. After all they own it not third party programmers.