Facebook has grown its quarterly ad revenue at twice the rate of Google, powered by a 56% surge in mobile ad sales.
Advertising revenue in Q2 was US$9.16 billion, 47% higher than a year ago. Mobile ad sales increased to US$7.97 billion, up from US$5.12 billion last year, and accounts for 87% of ad sales.
Earlier in the week, Google revealed it had grown search and display advertising sales by 20% to US$18.4 billion.
The average cost of a Facebook ad increased 24% and the number of ads increased up 19%, mostly on mobile.
The quarterly results exceeded analyst forecasts and lifted Facebook’s stock value by 4% to a record high of US$175.49.
Also reaching new heights are the number of daily active users (1.32 billion) and monthly active users (2.01 billion) – both 17% more than a year ago.
In the past year, Facebook’s global workforce grew by 43% to 20,658.
Facebook’s huge lifts in ad revenue and headcount are in stark contrast to huge declines in advertising dollars and rounds of redundancies afflicting traditional publishers.
The bullish results also come in the wake of a series of reporting errors that broke towards the end of 2016 and early this year, including errors that significantly inflated Facebook’s metrics on the average duration of video views.
The social media company says it has taken steps to remedy the problem and is working with the MRC on ways to improve its reporting transparency. Facebook has also stepped up dialogue with advertisers and media agencies on metrics.
What has really put Facebook in a stronger position than its peers was a decision to reposition the business as a mobile-first company in early 2014. This has allowed it to capitalise on the consumer shift to mobile better than its rivals.
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