In an unexpected turn of events, Google Cloud ran an advertisement on Vegas Sphere during the AWS Re:Invent which is taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada, from November 27 to December 1, 2023.

Advertising on the surface of the Sphere comes at a remarkable price — $450,000 per day or $650,000 per week. In 2022, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, allocated a hefty budget of 4.37 billion U.S. dollars for advertising in the United States, marking a significant increase from the previous year’s expenditure of 3.6 billion dollar

Google Cloud running ads on Vegas Sphere suggests two possibilities: either the cloud provider is actively seeking new customers, or its business is thriving. However, the latest earnings report leans towards the former, where Google lagged behind the other two major players in the cloud market.

In the latest quarter, AWS recorded a 12% growth, reaching $21.3 billion, up from $20.53 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. Meanwhile, Google reported a 22% revenue growth, totaling $8.41 billion. Microsoft Azure, on the other hand, outpaced both AWS and Google Cloud, achieving the highest growth with a 29% increase in revenue. 

Interestingly, this is not the first time Google has capitalised on an ongoing scenario for its ad campaign. A few days ago, when OpenAI’s chief scientist Illya Sutskevar fired Sam Altman on Google Meet, Google seized the opportunity and created an ad on the Google Play Store for Google Meet that humorously said, “Meet on any device and perfect for poorly planned board coups.”