Meta’s ad revenue surges 26%, outpacing Google’s growth

Meta's AI-powered ad machine grew more than twice as fast as Google Search in the third quarter, nearly closing a gap that once looked permanent For two decades, Google and Facebook split the internet’s ad money like two roommates dividing a pizza. Google usually took the bigger slice. That arrangement is getting renegotiated. In the third quarter, Meta’s advertising business grew more than twice as fast as Google’s Search and other segment. Meta’s total ad haul now sits within roughly $290 million of Google’s flagship search ads business. The numbers behind the split Meta posted total revenue of $64.6 billion for the quarter, a 26% jump from a year earlier. Advertising did almost all the work. Ad revenue came in at $63.061 billion, up 26% from $50.082 billion in the same quarter last year. The growth came from two directions. Ad impressions rose 10%, and the average price per ad climbed 14%. Meta credited its artificial intelligence investments for the gains, pointing to improvements in engagement, recommendations, and monetization. Nearly 10 million advertisers used the company’s generative AI creative tools during the quarter. Alphabet’s results told a more complicated story. Th...