Google's Q1 Revenue Lift Aided by Display And Mobile

Google revenues reached $8.58 billion dollars in the first three months of 2011, representing 27 percent growth compared to the same period last year.

The company attributed the revenue increase to a range of sources, placing emphasis on the continued success and growth of its core search ad offering, as well as its emerging businesses through channels such as display and mobile.

The results “demonstrate the value of search and search ads to our users and customers, as well as the extraordinary potential of areas like display and mobile,” Google’s CFO Patrick Pichette said during an investor call today.

On a year-over-year basis, revenues garnered from Google’s owned and operated sites – such as its search properties and video site YouTube – grew 32 percent during Q1. Revenues from its network of partner sites grew slightly slower, meanwhile, at 19 percent.

Revenues from outside of the U.S. totaled $4.57 billion, representing 53 percent of total revenues for the first quarter of 2011, compared with 52 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 and 53 percent in the first quarter of 2010. Contributions from its U.K. business declined, year-over-year, representing 11 percent of revenues in the first quarter of 2011, compared to 13 percent in the first quarter of 2010.

During the earnings call, Google’s executives frequently referenced its continued investment and belief in its emerging areas of business, particularly around display, video, and mobile advertising.

According to the VP of advertising, Susan Wojcicki, the company is pleased with the progress its display business is making, thanks to increased interest in products such as its ad exchange and YouTube. The volume of transactions running through the exchange has tripled in the last year, she said, adding that two-thirds of media purchases are now made via real-time bids.

YouTube, meanwhile, doubled its revenues year-over-year, and ad requests from iOS and Android mobile devices have grown 50 percent in the past four months, Wojcicki said.

In the search space, meanwhile, Wojcicki emphasized that the company continues to see opportunity for substantial growth. It’s currently concentrating its efforts on serving “the perfect ad for every query,” she said, highlighting its newer ad formats like “Mediads,” which enables entertainment advertisers to embed movie trailers directly within search results pages.

Google’s pledge to hire 6,000 staffers by December also appears to be on track, thanks to the 1,900 “Nooglers” (new Googlers) it’s hired since January.

“We feel this is a good time to invest in staff,” said Jeff Huber, the company’s VP of commerce and local. “We’re hiring great people to invest in the future of the company, and over half the new staff we hired this quarter will be working on YouTube, mobile, Chrome, and commerce and local.”