media

blog

Facebook’s Ad Revenues To Nearly Double This Year

02 Sep 2010
Posted by Market and Main Media

Facebook RevenueIn the social media category, the most influential player is Facebook, accounting for almost a fifth of all display ad traffic in the country. Estimates from eMarketer predict that Facebook will book nearly double the sales in global advertising in 2010 that it did for 2009. Last year, Facebook was estimated to have pulled in $665 million but analysts say the private-held company may bring in as much as $1.285 billion in 2010. The social media site’s self-serve ad platform is doing exceptionally well. Self-serve ads, launched just three years ago, are the fastest growing ad platform in Facebook. In fact, according to Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst for eMarketer, the self-serve ad platform “accounted for about half of all ad spending on Facebook.” Williamson added, “It’s really become a tremendous business for the company. We didn’t account for the size of that business last year in our estimate, but we found that it’s become a great tool for direct-marketing advertisers.” In part, this surge can be accounted for by the increasing number of self-serve advertisers (typically local marketers) who have reallocated marketing dollars from yellow pages listings to Facebook.

In addition, Facebook has increased its display advertising since the Microsoft deal to sell banner ads ended in February. The site’s display ads are made of smaller, uniquely sized units and are much less expensive than other display ads. In contrast to the average banner ad price of $2.34 per 1,000 impressions, Facebook charges the very low average of 56 cents per 1,000 impressions.
On the other hand, MySpace’s momentum is continuing to slow. Its ad revenues are expected to drop 26% this year, bringing in only $347 million compared to last year’s estimated $470 million. This negative trend is predicted to continue into 2011 with ad revenues expected to come in under $300 million.

... read full article