Ad-business strength
During the call, Google stressed the continued strength in
its core advertising business.
“This was driven by a strong holiday and a mobile
performance from our sites line,” said Patrick Pichette, Google's chief
financial officer. “We saw great momentum in our programmatic business
highlighted by our mobile display in our ads platform product.”
On Google sites, cost per click – the revenue that the
company gets for clicks – fell eight percent from a year ago, while CPC for
network sites climbed six percent.
Paid clicks from Google’s sites jumped 25 percent. Clicks
from partner sites fell 11 percent, reflecting what Google called user-policy
changes.
“Everyone now is aware of the importance and impact of
mobile search. Google wins there,” said Sheryl Kingstone, Toronto-based
research director of Yankee Group. “However, the future is not just about
mobile clicks but cost per action. The price of those clicks are higher.
“As investments in analytics pay off, Google can ensure
customers get quality over quantity,” she said. “It's exactly why Facebook
increased prices, but the return is still a good value.”
Google’s net income rose to $4.76 billion, or $6.91 per
share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $3.38 billion, or $4.95 per share,
a year ago.
In October, Google announced local availability for its
product listing ads, giving customers real-time information about nearby goods
in stock. Macy’s and REI leveraged these ads during the recent holiday selling
season, Mr. Pichette said.
Google’s newly created measurement tools let advertisers
obtain a reliable estimate of the number of times a search ad click drives a
store visit.
“The mobile specific metric helped advertisers measure the
full impact of their mobile marketing,” Mr. Pichette said.
