Facebook ad revenues to pass $5bn

NEW YORK: Facebook's advertising revenues will increase by 60% in 2012, though the pace of annual growth will moderate in the years ahead, new forecasts have shown.

Analysis from eMarketer suggests that Facebook's paid-for ad offerings will generate $5.06bn worldwide this year, up 60.5% from the $3.15bn recorded in 2011.

This total includes income from Facebook selling its display ad inventory and its Sponsored Stories, which were introduced in early 2011. Marketing expenditures made by brands on their official Facebook profiles were not included.

By 2014, the site's ad growth is anticipated to have moderated to 13.7%, with overall revenues reaching $7.64bn.

An increase in Facebook's user numbers accounts for much of the overall revenue growth.

According to latest figures from researchers at Socialbakers, Facebook has 834m active users. The site is enjoying explosive growth in emerging markets, and is still to penetrate China, the world's most-populous nation.

Meanwhile, figures from Alexa, a web information service, indicate that Facebook is the world's second most-visited site after Google.

Due to high emerging market adoption rates, eMarketer suggested that the share of Facebook ad revenues taken in the US, the site's core market, will shrink from 55% in 2011 to 49% in 2014.

In business terms, advertising will continue to be Facebook's biggest source of revenues, accounting for 83% of the overall total in 2014, barely down from last year's 85%.

Data sourced from eMarketer/Socialbakers; additional content by Warc staff, 24 February 2012

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