Facebook Ads Double During Festive Period, says Cantor

Facebook ad cropThe number of ads in Facebook users feeds has doubled during the festive period, according to Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squalia.

“Recent observations indicate that the ad load has picked up significantly during the holiday season to ~10 per cent, versus ~5 per cent reported in Q3 2013,” said Squalia. “We saw a similar spike in Q4 2012, but this years increase seems more amplified with bigger brands and a greater mix of higher-priced click-to-play video ads.”

As a result, Cantor raised its Q4 ad revenue estimate for Facebook to $2.18m ($1.21m from mobile), and its price target to $65.