Facebook Beats Estimates in Q4 as Mobile Ad Revenues Grow

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook’s ad revenues skyrocketed in the fourth quarter, for the three months ended 31 December, beating all Wall Street estimates and ensuring impressive results for the full year 2016.

Q4 saw a 53 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in Q4 ad revenues, up to $8.63bn (£6.81) from $5.64bn in 2015. Facebook reported that approximately 84 per cent of this ad revenue came from mobile advertising, up from 80 per cent in Q4 2015.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, said during a Facebook analyst call: “We had a strong fourth quarter capping off a great 2016. Q4 ad revenue grew 53 per cent. Mobile ad revenue reached $7.2bn, up 61 per cent YoY, and was approximately 84 per cent of total ad revenue. Our growth this quarter was broad-based across all regions, marketer segments, and verticals.”

Total revenues for the period were $8.81bn, 51 per cent up from $5.84bn. Meanwhile, total costs and expenses were reported at $4.24bn – leaving the social network a $4.57bn operating income for Q4, or a 78 per cent YoY change from the $2.56bn recorded in 2015.

For the full year, Facebook posted ad revenues of $26.89bn – a 57 per cent YoY change from the $17.08bn recorded the year prior – and overall revenues of $27.64bn. This brought in an operating income of $12.43bn – a 100 per cent increase from $6.23bn in 2015.

Away from the financials, Facebook’s average daily active users (DAUs) hit 1.23bn in December, an increase of 18 per cent YoY, with mobile DAUs averaging 1.15bn – up 23 per cent YoY. Meanwhile, monthly active users (MAUs) saw a jump of 17 per cent YoY in reaching 1.86bn, as of 31 December 2016, and mobile MAUs an increase of 21 per cent YoY to 1.74bn.

“This was another good quarter and a good end to 2016. Our community continues to grow, and now with nearly 1.9bn people using Facebook every month and more than 1.2bn people using it every day,” said Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO, in the analyst call. “Weve seen continued growth and engagements on our platform, and our ads business is doing well, too. Total revenue grew by 51 per cent YoY to $8.8bn, and advertising revenue was up 53 per cent to $8.6bn.

“Facebook stands for connecting people and creating a global community. And, in 2016, more people than ever made their voices heard. We saw billions of conversations about everything from important elections to the Olympics to breaking news stories around the world. And more people are taking advantage of new tools to connect and share on our family of apps, especially with video.”