Alphabet Revenue Up 13%, Looks to Grow YouTube Via NFL

Alphabet saw its revenue increase 13% year-over-year in the second quarter as it looks for a major strike in the sports rights space.

The Google parent is reportedly bidding on “NFL Sunday Ticket,” pitting it against fellow tech giants Apple and Amazon.

• The company saw revenues reach $69.7 billion.
• Net income dipped 13.6% to $16 billion.
• Search revenue hit $40.7 billion, while YouTube added $7.3 billion.

Google CBO Phillipp Schindler touted YouTube’s unique power in the investor call following the earnings release, noting that “49% of users who saw a Super Bowl ad on YouTube did not see the same ad on TV.”

Schindler added that this was YouTube’s first year it participated in upfront ad conferences.

Despite missing estimates, Alphabet’s stock grew around 2% in after-market training.

YouTube’s Sports Play

While YouTube has maintained its primary use as a video platform, Google has explored adding a major sports media property. 

The company has reportedly placed a bid for “NFL Sunday Ticket.” The NFL is looking for $2.5 billion annually for the out-of-market games package.

The company also considered placing a bid on streaming rights to the massively popular Indian Premier League, which notched 600 million viewers in 2021. Those rights were won by Viacom18 for $2.6 billion.

CEO Sundar Pichai said that YouTube TV surpassed 5 million subscribers, including trial users.