YouTube reported ad revenue of $11.2 billion for the third quarter of 2026, a 9.2% increase from the same period a year earlier, while Alphabet as a whole failed to meet analyst expectations for both revenue and earnings per share.
The video platform's growth slowed compared with earlier quarters, posting 15% growth a year earlier, 13% in Q2 and 11% in Q1 of 2026. YouTube also noted that its subscription business, which contributed to Alphabet's $60 billion in subscription revenue for 2025, continues to expand.
The company said it now has more than 150 million YouTube Music and Premium subscribers worldwide, including trial users.
Alphabet's total revenue reached $127.6 billion, up 25% year-over-year, and net income was $26.17 billion, both below the LSEG consensus of $128.2 billion in revenue and $3.02 earnings per share.
Like other AI hyperscalers, Alphabet increased its 2026 capital-expenditure outlook to $195 billion-$205 billion, up from $180 billion-$190 billion, to fund AI data-center expansion.
"We had a strong quarter and are now on a half-trillion dollar revenue run rate," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. "Our deep full stack approach is driving momentum across the business, with Alphabet revenues growing 25% year-over-year. Our AI investments are driving overall Search query growth, including commercial queries. In fact, our year-over-year query growth rate is the highest it's been in the last five years."
Pichai added that the Gemini AI app has reached 1 billion users, making it the fastest-growing product in Google's history.
