Google, Snapchat take bigger pie of ad spending, but slowdown may hurt growth

NEW YORK: Weak results from Google, Snap and other big sellers of online ads are raising concerns that Wall Street's optimistic growth forecasts are setting investors up for rude surprise this year.

Google, which dominates the $270 billion digital advertising sector, recently disappointed Wall Street when its 8.9% fourth-quarter ad revenue growth fell short of expectations. Snap, which owns social media app Snapchat and also relies heavily on advertising dollars, reported discouraging revenue for its most recent quarter.

The misses have raised concerns that Wall Street's forecast of up to 14% growth in digital advertising in 2024 may be too rosy.


"Alphabet's disappointing ad revenue numbers suggest that corporations worldwide are still uncertain about the pace of interest rate cuts from global central banks, thus keeping some powder dry while waiting for more clues before opening up their wallets," said Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com.

Alphabet had its biggest daily stumble since late October following the disappointing ad revenue figures for its most recent quarter.