Alphabet‘s Q4 2025 earnings report brought a new layer of transparency to the tech conglomerate’s financial updates. For the first time, the parent company of Google and YouTube revealed how much revenue its video platform generated over a year-long period. As expected, the number in question is massive: In 2025, YouTube revenue reached $60 billion.

In previous earnings reports, Alphabet discussed YouTube’s quarterly ad revenue and touted the platform as one of the top performing entities in the Googleverse. The $60 billion figure includes not only ad revenue but also subscription revenue from paid tiers like YouTube Premium. To put that number in perspective, it is 33% higher than the $45 billion of revenue Netflix generated in 2025. No wonder Ted Sarandos has been so eager to call out his company’s Alphabet-owned rival.

Though Premium subscriptions account for a big slice of the YouTube revenue pie, the platform’s ad sales continue to increase. YouTube ad revenue reached $11.4 billion in Q4 2025. That was good for a 10% quarter-over-quarter bump and a similar year-over-year uptick.

When you look at the past two years of YouTube ad revenue, the upward trend becomes even more dramatic. During Q1 2023, YouTube generated $6.6 million in ad revenue. By Q4 2025, that number had risen by more than 72%.

Google chief Sundar Pichai made the case that investments in AI tools and other forward-thinking products have been key drivers of YouTube’s growth. “We’re seeing our AI investments and infrastructure drive revenue and growth across the board,” Pichai said in Alphabet’s latest earnings report.

One wonders whether Pichai’s bullishness on AI will hurt YouTube’s ability to crack down on bad actors who are misusing that technology. But from an earnings standpoint, Alphabet has more immediate concerns than that. Even though the holding company exceeded expectations with its topline numbers ($114 billion of quarterly sales and $34.5 billion of net income), its stock price fell after the Q4 2025 report was released.

Alphabet plans to increase its capital expenditures to between $175 billion and $185 billion in 2026, with much of that money going toward AI development. Investors who are unsure about the future impact of AI might be selling off as a result — but that won’t stop the AI train from rolling on throughout the year.

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