How Surging Ad Sales Did Wonders To Facebook’s Revenue

Social media is everyday showing how new approaches to maximize the potential of advertising. One of the major benefits of social media advertising is that advertisers can take advantage of the users’ demographic information and target their ads appropriately.

Facebook’s quarterly revenue rose more than 50 percent, smashing Wall Street expectations, as its popular mobile app and a push into live video lured new advertisers and encouraged existing ones to boost spending.

The revenue surge helped shares climb to nearly triple the value of its initial public offering four years ago. Facebook also revealed a new class of non-voting shares that will allow founder Mark Zuckerberg to give away his wealth without relinquishing control of the social media giant.

Some 1.65bn people used Facebook monthly as of 31 March, up from 1.44 billion a year earlier.

Zuckerberg claims users are spending more than 50 minutes per day on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. Facebook is benefitting from advertisers shifting money from television to web and mobile platforms.

Some 1.65 billion people used Facebook monthly as of March 31, up from 1.44 billion a year earlier. Zuckerberg said users were spending more than 50 minutes per day on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, a huge amount of time given the millions of apps available to users.

Advertisers are shifting money from television to web and mobile platforms, and Facebook is one of the biggest beneficiaries. It faces fierce competition in the mobile video market, where rivals Snapchat and YouTube also garner billions of video views every day.

Last year, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced that they would give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares to fund charitable endeavors.

Last week, Zuckerberg and Chan were included in Time’s 100 Most Influential People 2016 list.

Facebook recently expanded its live video product, rolling out several new features and making it more prominent on the app to encourage users to create videos and share them. The quarterly results showed success attracting advertisers with the move, and the company was able to expand its operating profit margin to 55 percent from 52 percent a year earlier.

Total revenue rose to $5.38 billion from $3.54 billion, with ad revenue increasing 56.8 percent to $5.20 billion. Mobile ad revenue accounted for about 82 percent of total ad revenue, compared with about 73 percent a year earlier.

The news once again proves the power of social media and its influence over netizens.