San Francisco, Apr 28 (IANS): Amid the pandemic when millions stayed online, Alphabet which is the parent company of Google has posted strong financial results in the first quarter of 2011, reporting $55.3 billion in revenue which is up 34 per cent year-over-year.

The astounding growth reflects elevated consumer activity online and broad-based increases in advertiser spending within Google Services.

The company reported $17.9 billion as net income and ended the first quarter with $135 billion in cash and marketable securities.

"Over the last year, people have turned to Google Search and many online services to stay informed, connected and entertained. We've continued our focus on delivering trusted services to help people around the world," said Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

"Our Cloud services are helping businesses, big and small, accelerate

their digital transformations," he added.

Pichai also that after a hard year, people in some parts of the world are beginning to rebuild their lives, businesses and communities.

"But recovery is far from uniform across the globe as the tragic scenes in countries like India and Brazil remind us. We are continuing to help support public health officials in their vital and urgent work," he added.

The company informed that the Google Services revenues were $51.2 billion, up 34 per cent, consisting of Google Search and other advertising revenues of $31.9 billion in the quarter (up 30 per cent).

The company also reduced losses in its Cloud vertical in Q1.

"We're very pleased with the ongoing momentum in Google Cloud, with revenues of $4.0 billion in the quarter reflecting strength and opportunity in both GCP (Google Cloud Platform) and Workspace," said Ruth Porat, CFO of Google and Alphabet.

Strong growth in Google Workspace revenues was driven by growth in both seats and average revenue per seat. Google Cloud had an operating loss of $1 billion.

"YouTube advertising revenues of $6 billion, up 49 per cent, driven by exceptional performance in direct response and ongoing strength in brand advertising. Network advertising revenues was $6.8 billion, up 30 per cent, driven by AdMob and Ad Manager," Porat informed.

Other revenues were $6.5 billion, up 46 per cent, primarily driven by growth in Play and YouTube non-advertising revenues, followed by hardware, which benefited from the addition of Fitbit revenues.

Google Services operating income was $19.5 billion, up 69 per cent.