Tech ad revenues declined in Q1, and companies feel the stress

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Google and Meta have maintained a steady lead in digital ad revenues worldwide, ahead of the likes of Amazon, Twitter, and Snapchat. But that's not without their own growing pains. Both Meta and Google saw revenues dip by several billion dollars in Q1 of this year. Still, the companies are tens of billions of dollars ahead of triopoly competitor, Amazon, in digital ad revenues.

Beyond the chart: Across all companies charted, growth was high last year but took a substantial dip in Q1.

At Snapchat, revenue growth meant a hiring spree during the pandemic, but the company’s slimmer ad revenues resulted in parent company Snap announcing a snip of 20% of its employees earlier this week. Like other tech companies, Snap is now engaged in the balancing act of boosting revenues without compromising its core product.

More like this:

• Report: US Digital Ad Spending by Industry 2022
• Article: Layoffs at Snap could compromise its AR aspirations
• Article: Google gives merchants an early Christmas present

Read yesterday’s Chart of the Day here.

Methodology: Data is from company reports including annual reports and investor day presentations released during 2021-Q2 2022.