Microsoft FY23 Q1: LinkedIn up 17%, search and news revenue up 11%
Exceeding analyst expectations, LinkedIn revenue grew 17%, and search and news advertising revenues grew 16%. LinkedIn’s growth is thanks to strength in the talent solutions side of the business. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says there are now more than 150 million subscriptions to newsletters on LinkedIn.
Gaining an Edge. The search and advertising bump was “driven by higher search volume and Xandr.” Nadella says Microsoft has “expanded the geographies we serve by nearly 4x over the past year.” Microsoft Edge may also be helping out with Bing search and advertising revenues. “Edge is the fastest growing browser on Windows and continues to gain share as people use built-in coupon and price comparison features to save money,” says Nadella.
LinkedIn Marketing Solution continues to provide leading innovation and ROI in B2B digital advertising. More broadly, with Microsoft Advertising, we offer a trusted platform for any marketeer or advertiser looking to innovate. We’ve expanded the geographies we serve by nearly 4x over the past year. We are seeing record daily usage of Edge, Start, and Bing driven by Windows. Edge is the fastest-growing browser on Windows and continues to gain share as people use built-in coupon price comparison features to save money, Nadella said.
Not so fast – growth. Microsoft CFO Amy Hood told analysts during the earnings call that “reductions in customer advertising spend, which also weakened later in the quarter, impacted search in advertising and LinkedIn marketing solutions.”
Post-pandemic gaming. Xbox content services fell by 3% as Microsoft cites the lack of engagement hours and monetization from 1st party content, all of which was offset by the growth of Xbox Game Pass. It’s possible that post-pandemic, people are no longer sitting at home playing video games, but instead traveling and vacationing.
Overall revenue. Microsoft’s overall revenue came in at $50.1 billion, an increase of 11% YoY.
What’s next? Next month Netflix begins rolling out its paid ad tier with technology and sales supported by Microsoft.
Read more: Microsoft FY23 Q1: LinkedIn up 17%, search and news revenue up 11%
Google FY22 Q3 earnings: YouTube earnings down, ad revenue up, advertisers pulling back?
Google’s Q3 earnings were released today and for search, YouTube, and ads, it was a big “meh” across the board. Let’s take a look.
YouTube. YouTube earnings were down about 2% to $7.07 billion from $7.21 billion. To put that into perspective, analysts were expecting an increase of at least 3%. This is the first-ever decrease since Google began reporting
Missing the ad mark. Search ad sales grew 4% to $39.5 billion. Analysts had expected revenue of $41 billion. Google CFO Ruth Porat said that the modest growth was because of difficult comparisons to an unusually strong quarter a year earlier, a trend she said would continue in the fourth quarter.
Google also saw advertising pullbacks in the mortgage, loan, and crypto categories, says Philipp Schindler, CBO, Google.
New products and developments in Q3. In Google’s Search On event, a number of new products and features were unveiled including:
- Multisearch expansion. Multisearch lets you use your camera’s phone to search by an image, powered by Google Lens, and then add an additional text query on top of the image search. Google will then use both the image and the text query to show you visual search results.
- Search refinements. Google will present tappable words to build your query on the fly. This is a form of a query builder, by simply just tapping on words.
- Expanded visual information. Google will show you visual stories, short videos, tips, things to do and more, depending on the query.
- Search with the word Shop. In the US, when you search for the word “shop” followed by the item you’re looking for, you’ll access the visual feed of products, tools, and inventory for that product.
- Shop in 3D. To give merchants and advertisers better access to 3D visuals, Google also launched a new automated 360-degree spin feature that can be accessed by using a “handful” of static photos.
- Complex purchase buying guide. A new buying guide will share helpful insights about a category from a wide range of trusted resources.
- Personalized results. When you’re shopping on Google you can make your selections on preferred stores and brands to see more of those in the future.
View the entire list of new shopping features announced at this year’s Search On event here.
Read more: Google FY22 Q3 earnings: YouTube earnings down, ad revenue up, advertisers pulling back?
Google Adds Music Genres As Placement Option For Video Ads
Google is updating video ad campaigns on YouTube with the ability to target people listening to a specific type of music.
Google is rolling out a new placement option for video ads that allow advertisers to target specific types of music on YouTube.
The new “Music Mood Lineups” placement is designed to help advertisers reach users when they’re in a positive mood, as a significant amount of people report music makes them happy.
In an announcement, Google states:
“Music is a deeply personal medium and often reflects the listeners’ state of mind. In fact, a new Ipsos survey commissioned by Google shows that 48% of people in the US say that they consume music to lift their mood and 84% say that music makes them very happy.”
Read more: Google Adds Music Genres As Placement Option For Video Ads
WordPress Accessibility Day 2022 Publishes Speaker Lineup
WordPress Accessibility Day is just one week away on November 2-3, and registration is still open. Co-lead organizer Amber Hinds published an impressive speaker lineup with 40 speakers from 14 countries. She also noted that 40% of the event’s sessions have at least one speaker who identifies as living with a disability.
WordPress professionals who want to learn more about creating accessible websites will want to attend, as the schedule is loaded with a wealth of educational presentations from well-known accessibility experts. Co-lead organizer Joe Dolson will start with opening remarks, followed by the keynote session from Nicolas Steenhout, an accessibility consultant and host of the A11y Rules Podcast.
Read more: WordPress Accessibility Day 2022 Publishes Speaker Lineup
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