Meta Platforms shares surged in after-hours trading after it blew out second-quarter earnings expectations Wednesday afternoon. Along with Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings report last week, Meta’s release reveals a lot of strength in digital advertising,

In the midst of an artificial intelligence spending spree, Meta posted stronger-than-expected results for the second quarter, buoyed by growing ad revenue even as its expenses increased

Meta posted a second-quarter profit that beat expectations by a wide margin, and revenue that topped forecasts for a 12th-straight quarter, as active users, ad impressions and ad prices all rose. The company also provided a revenue outlook for the current quarter that was better than forecast.