YouTube’s Election Boost; Spiegel Goes Public on Snapchat

We’re hearing a lot of YouTube creators and media executives have already descended on New Orleans ahead of Super Bowl Sunday. Back at home in rainy Mountain View, Google leaders have been talking up the last national event that boosted YouTube—the 2024 presidential election. 

In a call with investors late Tuesday, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said more than 45 million viewers in the U.S. watched election-related content on YouTube on Election Day. He also shouted out YouTube’s early investment in podcasting, which is “paying off.”  

Those successes helped YouTube revenue outpace its parent’s. Alphabet revenue slowed to 12% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, to $96.5 billion. YouTube revenue rose 14% to $10.47 billion, a slightly higher rate than the previous period, driven by strong spending on ads for the U.S. election from both political parties, which executives said was double from 2020.