Big Tech’s latest quarterly results confirm that advertisers are still betting heavily on established platforms. Despite tighter budgets across industries, companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, and Reddit all reported strong ad revenue growth in the third quarter of 2025. The ad sector continues to grow as companies integrate AI, new formats, and broader audience reach into their monetization strategies.

Google’s search and YouTube ads push total to $74 billion

Alphabet’s Q3 2025 results show total revenue crossing $100 billion for the first time, with $74 billion coming from advertising, up 12% from last year. Google’s search business alone generated $56 billion, rising 15% year over year.

CEO Sundar Pichai credited the company’s continued growth to the use of AI. “This was a terrific quarter for Alphabet, driven by double-digit growth across every major part of our business. We’re seeing AI now driving real business results across the company,” he said.

The company has focused on AI investments in Search. Google has rolled out new AI-driven experiences such as AI Mode and AI Overviews in Search, both of which rely on its Gemini model.

Google recently scored a major win when a U.S. Judge ruled against the sale of Chrome. With legal pressure on Chrome easing, Google has integrated Gemini, its flagship AI model, into Chrome and Search, a direct counter to OpenAI’s new AI-powered browser, Atlas, and Perplexity’s Comet. The Gemini app now has over 650 million monthly active users, up from 450 million last quarter.

YouTube remains a major growth driver. The platform’s ad revenue grew 16% from last year to just over $10 billion. Shorts continues to perform well, and the company says it now earns more revenue per watch hour in the U.S. than traditional in-stream videos.

YouTube also introduced its new Activation Partners program, connecting advertisers with verified third-party ad experts, and is testing side-by-side ads on livestreams as it competes for attention with platforms like Amazon Prime Video.

Meta saw a 26% ad revenue jump

Meta recorded a strong advertising result in the third quarter. The company’s total revenue hit $51 billion, with $50 billion coming from ads, a 26% year-over-year increase. The company said ad impressions across its Family of Apps rose 14%, while the average price per ad grew 10%.

Mark Zuckerberg described the quarter as “strong for both our business and our community.” The company attributes its growth to better ad delivery and improved relevance powered by AI-driven recommendations. “We continue to refine ad supply across each of our major surfaces within Facebook and Instagram to better deliver ads at the time and place they are most relevant to people,” Li stated during the call.

The platform has rolled out various ad updates as it plans to fully automate ad creation, targeting, and budget optimization by the end of 2026. For instance, Meta is expanding its use of generative AI tools for ad delivery across Facebook and Instagram and has encouraged advertisers to adopt Advantage+ campaigns powered by AI.

The company is also seeing growth across its family of apps. Threads continues to gain traction, now with 150 million daily active users, a 50% jump from December’s 100 million. Time spent on Facebook increased 5%, and on Threads, 10%. Instagram’s monthly active users climbed to 3 billion, with Reels alone now generating more than $50 billion in annual run-rate revenue.

In September, Meta expanded Reels trending ads to advertisers globally, which allows using AI to place ads directly after top-trending, creator-generated Reels.

Amazon expands ad business across streaming and live sports

Amazon’s Q3 2025 results highlight how ad has become one of its key growth pillars alongside AWS and retail. The company reported total revenue of $180 billion, up 13% year over year, with ad services generating $18 billion, a 24% increase.

CEO Andy Jassy attributed the performance to AI-enhanced ad targeting and Amazon’s vast trove of first-party shopping data. The company continues to expand ad placements across Prime Video, Fire TV, and Twitch. Prime Video has opened new inventory for advertisers as the company invests in connected TV and live sports.

According to the report, “Thursday Night Football” averaged 15.3 million viewers this season, up 16% from last year, while the NBA’s debut on Prime drew 1.25 million U.S. viewers. Amazon is also partnering with Spotify, SiriusXM, and Microsoft to allow advertisers to buy ad space across those platforms through Amazon Ads.

Microsoft sees steady ad growth tied to AI and cloud

Microsoft reported total revenue of $78 billion for Q1 FY26, up 18% year over year. Within its “More Personal Computing” segment, search and news advertising revenue rose 16%, outperforming analyst expectations.

CFO Amy Hood said the company’s ad growth reflects continued demand across its AI and cloud ecosystem. Microsoft’s integration of OpenAI tools into its ad and productivity products has helped it attract marketers seeking more automated and data-driven ad options.

The company is also pushing Edge into the growing AI browser race, with the CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman, saying Microsoft plans to make Edge “agentic.” 

While the company did not disclose the exact figure for its ad segment, it reaffirmed its strategy of linking advertising with its broader AI and productivity suite.

Netflix doubles ad revenue and expands ad formats

Netflix reported total revenue of $11 billion in Q3 2025, up 17% from last year, marking its best ad sales quarter in history. The company said its ad revenue more than doubled this year as its ad-supported tier gained momentum.

Co-CEO Greg Peters told analysts, “We’re now on track to more than double ad revenue this year.” The company said it has doubled its U.S. upfront commitments and is rapidly scaling programmatic ad sales through partnerships, including Amazon DSP.

Netflix says it’s also testing interactive ad formats powered by AI and plans to expand them globally in 2026. Live events are another growing focus for the company. For example, Netflix saw recent successes like the Canelo fight, which drew over 41 million live viewers, the most for a sporting event on the platform to date.

The company is also experimenting with new ways to drive engagement and give advertisers longer-form storytelling opportunities beyond traditional video ads. Netflix and Spotify recently announced a partnership on video podcasting. The collaboration will allow select Spotify podcasters to distribute their video episodes through Netflix’s platform.

Reddit grows ad revenue by 74% as it builds a search-driven model

Reddit’s Q3 2025 report shows the platform’s ad business is growing. Total revenue reached $585 million, up 68% year over year, with ad revenue climbing 74% to $549 million.

CEO Steve Huffman said the growth came from advertisers looking to engage with Reddit’s community-driven discussions. The company continues to upgrade its ad tools, including better measurement and localized formats for international markets.

Reddit is doubling down on its ambition to become a search destination. The company says it plans to invest heavily in search, aiming to make Reddit the go-to tool for finding human conversations around any topic. “Search is one of our biggest opportunities because Reddit conversations are uniquely authentic, contextual, and helpful,” the company said. The company claims that over 75 million people now search on Reddit weekly.

Recent updates like Reddit Answer enable users to discover posts and comments directly through Reddit, while partnerships with AI companies, including licensing its content for model training, are helping with how its data is indexed and retrieved.

AI remains the common thread

Across all six companies, it remains clear that AI is reshaping digital advertising. Each company is leveraging AI to personalize, automate, and expand ad reach. The takeaway for advertisers is that AI is now integrated into nearly every major ad platform’s ecosystem. As platforms launch more measurement tools, improve automation, and scale new formats like interactive video and connected TV, competition for ad budgets will continue to grow.

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