Google paid clicks were up 55 percent, but CPCs were off 18 percent.
Google parent Alphabet announced third-quarter results. Both revenues and earnings per share beat Wall Street estimates.
The company reported roughly $27.8 billion in total revenues (up 24 percent), with Google contributing all but $302 million of that amount. Earnings per share were $9.57, which was about $1.24 higher than expected.
Advertising generated just over $24 billion in quarterly revenue. Operating income was about $7.8 billion. However, traffic acquisition costs (TAC) rose to $3.1 billion (vs. $2.6 billion a year ago). There are sure to be analyst questions about that item.
The revenue breakdown by segment:
- Google properties: $19.7 billion
- Google network: $4.3 billion
- Google “other revenues”: $3.4 billion
- Other bets: $302 billion
Paid clicks on Google properties were up 6 percent year over year and aggregate cost per click (CPC) was up 1 percent. Here’s more detail:
- Aggregate paid clicks overall up 47 percent (year over year).
- Paid clicks on Google properties up 55 percent.
- Paid clicks on the Google Network up 10 percent.
- Aggregate CPCs down 18 percent year over year (up 1 vs. last quarter).
- CPCs on Google properties off 21 percent.
- CPCs on Google Network were off 5 percent but flat sequentially.
Paid click growth was significant. However, CPCs were down (18 percent) from a year ago but up slightly (1 percent) from last quarter. Alphabet (GOOG) shares are up in after-hours trading.
The company says it now has more than 78,000 employees, compared with just under 70,000 a year ago. The earnings call webcast is happening now.
