YouTube just closed out Q1 2025 with $8.1 billion in ad revenue, up 21% year over year. This marks its best growth rate since early 2022. This signals that advertisers are spending again and YouTube’s monetization tools are working.
During Alphabet’s earnings call, Sundar Pichai emphasized YouTube’s momentum across ads, Shorts and subscriptions.
Advertisers are spending more
Pichai called out Shorts as a “big driver of growth.” He said YouTube Shorts now sees over 70 billion daily views. That’s a sharp increase from the 50 billion daily views reported last year. Creators posting short-form content consistently now have access to a growing pool of engaged viewers and ad dollars.
Neal Mohan also pointed out that AI tools are helping advertisers run more effective campaigns on Shorts. These tools match brands with relevant content more efficiently, resulting in more ad revenue flowing to creators who make content that holds viewers’ attention in under 60 seconds.
YouTube Premium and Music keep gaining subscribers
Alphabet reported that YouTube’s subscription services, including YouTube Premium and YouTube Music, have topped 100 million subscribers. Mohan said this creates new monetization streams for creators, especially musicians and podcasters.
As Premium memberships grow, more of the views will come from ad-free users. Creators still earn from those views through YouTube’s revenue share model.
YouTube is still betting on connected TV
YouTube’s dominance on TV screens isn’t slowing down. Pichai said the platform remains the most-watched streaming service on U.S. connected TVs. That’s based on Nielsen data, which measures time spent watching.
This shift matters because ad rates on TV screens tend to be higher than mobile. If the content performs well on television, especially in longer videos, with high-quality production or educational content, creators may then see higher CPMs and better retention.
All factors taken into consideration, creators will have more opportunities to grow their revenue.