Google's March quarter results were weaker than expected as advertising growth slowed from the digital frenzy of the early pandemic.
The giant platform's share price dropped, almost 5% at one stage, as earnings and profit dropped below market analyst expectations.
Net profit for Alphabet, the Google parent, fell 8% to $US16.44 billion in the March quarter.
Overall advertising revenue was up 22% to $US54.66 billion for the three months compared to the same quarter in 2021 but the rate of growth has slowed.
Growth in advertising revenue at YouTube rose only 14% compared to 49% in the same quarter in 2021.
Paul Verna, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence: "After several consecutive quarters of unprecedented growth, Google’s Q1 2022 earnings miss suggests that the pandemic boom is now giving way to more down-to-earth expectations.
"While the company’s search and cloud businesses performed well in Q1, its YouTube video business fell well below analysts’ forecasts, driven down by increased competition from social video platforms like TikTok and a plethora of premium entertainment services led by Disney+. Market conditions didn’t help, as inflation and supply chain disruptions continued to put downward pressure on ad spending.
"As a market leader in digital advertising, Google has been a bellwether for the industry, so today’s results could spell trouble for other ad-supported tech companies including Meta, Snap, and Twitter."
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