Google parent company Alphabet just announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2020, and not surprisingly the global COVID-19 pandemic had an effect. Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai called it a “tale of two quarters” on the earnings call with investors and noted that ad performance took a major hit in March after two very strong months.
Pichai also noted some parts of its business that were booming amidst the pandemic. Specifically, search usage has been booming; he said that at its peak, coronavirus-related search activity was four times the peak of Super Bowl search activity. YouTube watch time is also up in a big way, but he didn’t give a specific number; that said, he called out livestreams specifically as a growth area.