Search giant Google took in $5.09 billion in revenue for the three months ending on June 30, a 25% gain over the same period last year, despite a $2.37 billion profit, up 34% from last year.
Display buying has traditionally been about advertisers buying sites, but they are shifting to buying audiences. It's no longer about buying Tiffany.com or buying NYTimes.com, advertisers want to buy 18-35 year-olds who are savvy, and it makes no sense for an advertiser to buy across seven different networks. Advertisers want to buy from a one-stop shops.
Google recently acquired Invite Media, a company that specializes in software allowing advertisers to buy across multiple advertising networks, or what is known as a "demand-side platform.
Search advertising, has increased largely due to a recovery in cost-per-click fees, the basis for search pricing. Google reported a 15% increase in total paid click fees over last year, but the average price per-click only increased 4% over the same period, suggesting a flattening of base costs for search advertising.
New opportunities exist, but are based on getting advertisers to provide video advertising flat commercials typical of TV. As one gets more personalization and more interactivity, monetization opportunities will exist.
YouTube represents the biggest growth opportunity for Google in terms of display advertising, but it declined to give more detail on the video site's efforts to convert its massive global audience into a profitable business.
YouTube has 2 billion views per day, recently there have been top brand advertisers showing up for it.