San Francisco (AFP)

Google did not really suffer from the "Great containment" in the first quarter, and even if the internet search giant forecasts a "difficult" second quarter, because of the plummeting advertising budgets, it is strengthening its hold on many markets.

The flagship of the Alphabet has never been used so much: "our research activity has increased significantly," noted Sundar Pichai, the group's CEO, when presenting the financial results to analysts on Tuesday.

"In the United States, research on the coronavirus is four times greater than during the peak of the Super Bowl," he added, offering as an example a comparison with the emblematic final of the American football championship. .

In January and February, Google reaped solid advertising revenue, but in March the slowdown was "significant and sudden", in the words of the boss.

Tour operators such as Expedia and Booking, in particular, have cut their marketing budgets to the bare minimum, a direct consequence of social distancing measures which are severely affecting the tourism, transport, catering and hotel sectors.

"We anticipate a difficult second quarter for our advertising business," said Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet, without providing a forecast.

At the heart of the problem is the change in internet users' behavior, more in search of information than of products to buy.

"We are seeing signs of the resumption of consumer research by users. But it is not yet clear how this behavior will be sustainable or monetizable," she said.

- Wall Street reassured -

These positive "signs" seem to satisfy Wall Street: the title of Alphabet appreciated by more than 7% during electronic exchanges after the close of the Stock Exchange.

The good results of the Californian colossus also reassured investors.

Revenue increased 13% to $ 41.2 billion in the first quarter, for net profit of more than $ 6.8 billion (compared to just under $ 6.7 billion a year ago) .

Overall, Google’s advertising revenue has increased 10% in the past three months.

Its revenues directly linked to online research "saw their growth slow down to a single figure, suggesting an impact of the Covid-19 on this activity from mid-March, but not as serious as it could have been. 'to be,' said Nicole Perrin of eMarketer.

"This is probably exactly what the tech industry needed when many experts were speculating on a slump for Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google," said Mark Newton of Newton Advisors.

YouTube was doing particularly well with more than $ 4 billion in advertising revenue this quarter, up 33% from a year ago.

Like most entertainment and information services, the video platform has seen its meters explode in recent months when half the planet was confined.

- New habits -

Google’s cloud-related (remote computing) products have widely penetrated homes, on a large scale.

Google Classroom, for example, is now used by "hundreds of millions of teachers and students, double what it was in early March," says Sundar Pichai.

Cloud activity jumped 52% to $ 2.8 billion.

Above all, the leader bet that the omnipresence of platforms in our daily lives will not disappear with deconfinement.

"When the emergency is over, social standards will no longer be the same," he said. "Right now companies have to manage the safety of their employees and their supply chains, but they also tell us about reinventing themselves."

"The changes in online work, education, telemedicine, shopping, entertainment .... are going to be significant and lasting."

In the immediate future, for Google, the attrition of advertising revenues will result in a slowdown in hiring and non-urgent or non-essential investments, from data centers (servers) to marketing and travel expenses.

While continuing to gain ground, following the strategy of making yourself indispensable, until you are part of the furniture, before making any profit.

Sundar Pichai was particularly enthusiastic about Google Shopping, the commerce platform that sellers can now use for free.

What increase traffic on this site, and therefore, ultimately, advertising spending. And therefore compete with Amazon.

© 2020 AFP