Facebook growth has continued with an exceptional second quarter. Profits April – June are $2 billion, 85% higher than the same quarter last year. Revenue was $6.4 billion, even higher than the anticipated high level of $5.8 billion.
Video has been particularly successful, which pleased Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook. He stated that he intended for video to be at the heart of Facebook’s services. During after-hours trading Wednesday Facebook shares increased by over 7%. Growth has been worldwide with a 19% increase in Asia and 21% in Europe.
Facebook video advertising has been a specific project for Zuckerberg. It has been rolling out various platforms for mobile video ads and encouraging businesses to try them. Mobile advertising comprised 84% of the company’s second-quarter advertising revenue, up from the 76% of the same quarter last year. A great deal of corporate advertising budgets has been moved to Facebook and other digital platforms from TV advertising. Facebook growth has everything to do with advertising.
Monthly active users (MAU), a key metric for advertisers, increased during the quarter to 1.7 billion – an increase of 15%. Compare that to the same period for Twitter, where MAU increased by only 3%. Twitter is falling while Facebook is rising, with over one billion daily users for the first time! The average time spent by users also increased, which is music to the ears of advertisers.
Facebook’s primary advertising platforms are its streaming video offering, Facebook Live and 360 Video. They are intended partially to draw Snapchat users to Facebook. They are also where television advertisers appear to be flocking with a large percentage of their media advertising cash. The company has also been using Instagram to promote its messaging service and its video and photo sharing apps.
The majority of Facebook visits have been by mobile media rather than desktop or laptop devices. This social media giant has exceeded all Wall Street estimates except one since it went public in May 2012. Without a doubt, Facebook has been one of Technology’s greatest success stories, although it keeps an eye on Snapchat, another rapidly growing competitor to Facebook.
One of the reasons for the amazing Facebook growth story because in 2015 is because it increased the number of adverts visible in the users news feed. This increased the potential for advert clicks – a one-off change that cannot be repeated without annoying users and sending them to Snapchat. Facebook will still prosper, but unlikely at this half-year’s rate.
That said, the company has yet to monetize the WhatsApp Messenger and other products in the same way it has done with Facebook and Instagram, purchased by the company in 2012. One thing is sure – Facebook is here to stay for a long time yet due to Mark Zuckerberg’s vision. Facebook growth will surely continue.
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