Yelp Delivers Record-Breaking Quarter with 6% Net Revenue Growth in 2024
Yelp, the popular review and discovery platform, has reported a record-breaking quarter with 6% net revenue growth in 2024. The company's fourth-quarter earnings conference call revealed a strong performance across various categories, with services emerging as a standout.
In his opening remarks, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman highlighted the company's successful execution of its product load strategy, which led to record net revenue and profitability. With disciplined expense management, Yelp grew net income by 34% year-over-year to $133 million and adjusted EBITDA by 8% year-over-year to $358 million.
One of the key drivers of Yelp's success was its services category, which achieved a 11% year-over-year revenue growth in Q4. The home services category was particularly strong, with annual revenue growth of approximately 15% year-over-year. The company launched several new products and features to improve connections between consumers and service professionals, including an AI-powered chatbot called Yelp Assistant.
Yelp Assistant has been a hit with consumers, with project submissions through this feature increasing by more than 50% from the third to fourth quarter. Additionally, the company experimented with acquiring services projects off the platform through paid search, but ultimately reduced its spend on this initiative as it did not provide the desired return.
Despite challenges in other categories, Yelp's restaurant, retail, and other businesses faced a challenging operating environment, leading to a 3% year-over-year decline in RRO revenue. However, engagement with Request-a-Quote was robust, with consumer projects increasing by approximately 25% year-over-year.
The company also introduced an AI-powered feature called Smart Selection for advertisers, which optimizes their ads automatically selecting the best reviews and photos to showcase. This effort contributed to a 6% year-over-year increase in ad clicks and flat average CPCs for the year.
On the consumer side of its business, Yelp rolled out several new features and updates to enhance the user experience and drive engagement. Overall, the company's Q4 results demonstrate its continued focus on innovation and disciplined approach to investment."
