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Google and Facebook currently have a near-duopoly stranglehold on the mobile ads market. 。
But the trajectory of each company's growth in the sector has worried some of the search giant's investors, who see the social network eating into Google's share of the business. 。
Thursday's earnings release from Google parent Alphabet, however, suggests the company's efforts to turn this situation around have been at least partly successful. 。
SEE ALSO:Waze wants to help people keep up with their 'favorite brands' 。The Mountain View company reported earnings and revenue on Thursday that surpassed Wall Street's already-rosy estimates. 。
Google pulled in revenues of $22.5 billion and earnings per share of $9.06, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus predictions of $22.1 billion and $8.64 respectively. 。
Executives credited the boost to its mobile ads business — particularly strong forward momentum in mobile search and YouTube ad sales. 。
Research firm eMarketer estimates that 60 percent of Google's ad revenues will come from mobile this year, up from 46 percent last year. Meanwhile, Facebook derives a whopping 82 percent of sales from ad on smartphones. 。
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As of last fall, the firm's analysts say Google still owns a larger chunk of the mobile market — 32 percent versus 19 percent — but Facebook's slice is expected to continue to rapidly grow, while Google's is projected to stagnate. 。
Google is still primarily an advertising business, the largest on the internet, but it also has its fingers in several other pies, including subsidiaries, hardware sales and pet ventures. 。
The company launched a new line of devices earlier this month — including its first-ever smartphone, the Pixel — leading some to even speculate whether Google was turning into a hardware company (It's not, according to these numbers). 。
Google didn't break out specific numbers on pre-order sales for these products, and in many respects it's still too early to gauge their success. 。
The company has also been trimming down some of its more ambitious bets in a bid to tighten focus on its core business. 。
Google announced Wednesday that it would lay off members of its Fiber division — a massive undertaking to lay optics cables that would bring internet access to households — as it switched to more efficient wireless methods.。
It also recently spun off its driverless car business into a separate entity within the Alphabet umbrella. 。