• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 29, 2020

Under the spotlight of the Department of Justice alleging a monopoly, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, on Thursday released third-quarter financial results. The numbers show that business is excellent.

"We had a strong quarter, consistent with the broader online environment," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a statement.

Despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Alphabet revenue jumped from $40.5 billion in third-quarter 2019 to nearly $46.2 billion in third-quarter 2020.

Revenue from Google advertising rose from $33.8 billion in third-quarter 2019 to $37 billion in third-quarter 2020.

Revenue from YouTube rose from $3.8 billion to $5 billion in 2020.

Revenue from search & other rose from Google Search and other $24.7 billion to $26 billion in 2020.

In a report released this week, advertising agency Merkle estimated Google shopping ad spend would rise 12% year-over-year in the third quarter, up from 7% in the second quarter, 2020. It also estimated Google’s search ad spend would grow 11% YoY, up from 9% in Q2.

Trip Chowdhry, managing director at Global Equities Research, points to YouTube and Google's cloud business as the contributing factors to the success of the quarter.