Facebook doubled its revenues in the first half of this year, to 1.6 billion dollars ($A1.5 billion).
The Wall Street Journal reports that, with 750 million Facebook members worldwide, the online site has attracted major interest from advertisers.
Facebook doubles 2011 revenues
September 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Social Media Marketing Brings New Revenues, Customers
June 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Social media marketing has been top of mind among marketers and is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Earlier this year, eMarketer estimated that worldwide social network ad revenues alone, not including money that companies spend developing presences on social networks or hiring staff to manage them, would reach $5.97 billion in 2011, a 71.6% increase over 2010.
Already, firms worldwide are seeing returns on their increased investment. According to a survey by office services firm Regus, 47% of businesses successfully used social networks for customer acquisition in 2011, a 7 percentage point increase over 2010. The US followed closely behind the average, at 43%.
China saw the greatest gains in customer acquisition from social networks among all countries studied, increasing from 44% in 2010 to 65% in 2011.
The survey had one other interesting finding: Social networks made the biggest impact for companies that are operating in developed markets. A significantly higher percentage of companies that used social networks for customer acquisition in developed markets, including the US, the UK, Japan and Canada, saw a revenue increase over the previous year vs. those companies that did not use social networks to acquire new business in developed markets.
Companies in developing markets like China, Mexico and South Africa experienced revenue growth whether or not they were using social networks to acquire new business, probably as a result of rapid overall economic expansion.
As companies continue to chase revenue in both developed and developing markets, competition will force marketers to increase investment in new platforms to reach customers. Social networks are proving to be a reliable source of customer acquisition and increased revenues in both, but can provide a necessary edge over competitors in developed markets.
Facebook to Surpass Yahoo! in Display Ad Revenues This Year
March 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
For the first time, the largest share of US display ad revenues will go to Facebook, eMarketer estimates. The social network’s 80.9% growth in display ad revenues, to $2.19 billion this year, will mean Facebook sees 21.6% of all US display ad dollars.
That will put it ahead of Yahoo!, where eMarketer estimates display revenues will be up 16%. Yahoo!’s market share will inch up to 16.4%, while display gains at Google push the site’s share of display spending to 12.6%. Meanwhile, AOL will drop from 5.3% of display ad revenues in 2010 to 4.4% this year.
“Yahoo!’s US display ad revenues will increase by double digits each year from 2010 through 2012. Despite that, not only will Facebook’s display revenues surpass Yahoo!’s this year, Google’s revenues will exceed Yahoo!’s next year,” said David Hallerman, principal analyst at eMarketer. “What that leapfrogging trend confirms is the strong demand among brand marketers for online display ad placements.”
In the search market, Google will solidify its position as the top site with an increase in market share of nearly 4 percentage points, to 75.2%. eMarketer expects Microsoft, where search revenues will be up 16.4% in 2011, to increase its market share slightly for the next two years, while search revenues at Yahoo! will continue a slow decline, dropping to $1.1 billion this year from $1.28 billion in 2010.
Declines will also continue at AOL throughout the forecast period.
“Even as some observers expect Google’s search revenues to fall due to competition from Bing, the reported revenue reality shows that after a relatively ‘slow’ Q1 2010, net US ad revenues at Google grew by 27% or more each of the following three quarters,” noted Hallerman. “It will be hard for Bing to stop the Google juggernaut, and, in fact, Bing’s search gains are basically accompanied by Yahoo!’s search losses.”
“In fact, Google’s gains in search will help its display business, and vice versa, as more and more marketers will see the benefits of linking those two ad formats through a single provider,” said Hallerman. “That same trend will help Microsoft—but not as much as Google—since Bing’s search dollars are a mere fraction of the marketer investment with Google.”
Social Network Ad Revenues Rising Worldwide
February 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Thanks to Facebook, social networks are steadily increasing their share of total online ad spending in the US.
In 2011, 10.8% of all US online ad spending will go to social networks. Next year, the share of spending going toward social destinations is expected to rise to 12.1%.
“Major marketers are integrating social media into their overall marketing programs,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report “Worldwide Social Network Ad Spending: 2011 Outlook.” “As they do so, advertising in social destinations is becoming a more logical part of their plan.”
On a worldwide basis, social networks are also increasing their representation. Of the nearly $69 billion marketers will spend on online advertising worldwide in 2011, 8.7% will land on social networks, rising to 10.2% of $79 billion in 2012.
By 2012, markets outside the US will account for more than half of social network ad spending. This shift will come as Facebook increases its global footprint and improves monetization in developing markets. Homegrown social networks in Russia, China and Japan—where Facebook has not yet penetrated—will also continue to see growth in usage and ad spending.
In addition, in some countries, such as Japan and China, mobile is the predominant way to access social networks. As mobile advertising becomes more sophisticated, eMarketer expects more ads to funnel into mobile versions of social networks.
“The skepticism of a few years ago has faded; large brands are allocating more marketing budget to social media than ever before, and their social network ad spending is also rising,” said Williamson. “Two categories of advertisers are emerging: major brand marketers that increase budgets gradually, and performance advertisers that spend heavily and bring extensive search marketing expertise.”
