Facebook is reaping the benefits of its decision to become a mobile-first company.
With approximately three-quarters of all regular Facebook users now accessing the platform daily via mobile, it’s little surprise that the company’s mobile ad revenues are now at all-time highs.
Facebook’s business has also been transformed. In 2012, most of its money came from generic banner ads delivered to users visiting its site by desktop computer. In the fourth quarter of 2013, 53 percent of the company’s advertising revenue came from pitches delivered to iPads, smartphones and other mobile devices, with many of those ads highly targeted by gender, age and other demographics.
“I think it’s inarguable that Facebook is a mobile-first company,” Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Ebersman, is quoted by The New York Times.
According to this week’s published earnings report, Facebook raked in $2.59 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013 (that’s up from $1.59 billion in the same quarter of 2012).
However, revenue from advertising was most impressive, coming in at $2.34 billion, a 76 percent jump over 2012.
“Given that Facebook had virtually no mobile presence in 2012,” the same report concludes, “the transition is a huge turn that now puts the company at the forefront of the industry’s shift to serving people on the move.”
