Social media giant, Facebook Inc, has revealed a 60 increase in its Q3 earnings, reportedly driven by significant growth in its mobile advertising business.
Facebook’s active monthly users went up by 18 percent, however its mobile users surged 45 percent, with 49 percent of its total 66 percent advertising revenue accruing via mobile sources, a Washington Post revealed.
This is also in tandem with the growing mobile penetration currently experienced in Africa. The rising continent recorded a 16 percent year-on-year mobile growth to stand at 74 percent, accumulating 821 mobile subscribers in the process. It is expected to hit a high of 1.2 billion users by 2017, making it a major frontier for phone makers and online advertising agencies.
The media giant’s average revenue per user in the Middle East and Africa regions have seen a significant rise from $2.14 in 2012 to $2.70 this year, a 20 percent jump. This has prompted experts to forecast a $4.03 average revenue by 2017.
Commenting on the growth of the tech giant’s website earnings, founder of African digital marketing company, Wild Fusion, Abasiama Idaresit, attributed the hike in its latest earnings to an increased media marketing in Africa saying, “Yes it has, and [online media] spend coming from Africa is increasing year on year.”
According to reports, the US-based social media is becoming increasingly dependent on advertising for revenue generation as its 2nd (88 percent of total revenue) and 3rd (89 percent) quarter results reflecting a developing pattern.
“This comes down to proving advertising value to marketers,” said Nate Elliott, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research.
