Facebook has conquered expectations but its shares fell because of the 2018 expense forecast.
The company reported a jump in annual advertising revenue, reaching over $10 billion for the first time. Overall revenue was $10.3 billion, of which $10.1 billion came out of advertising.
“Our community keeps growing and our business is doing well,” explained Mark Zuckerberg.
“But none of that matters when our solutions are employed in ways that don’t bring people closer together. We’re serious about preventing abuse on our platforms. We’re investing so much our profitability will be impacted by it. Protecting our community is much more important than maximizing our profits.”
Mobile advertising revenue represented around 88 percent of Q3 advertising revenue, up from 84 percent in Q3 2016. Profits were up 79% to $4.7 billion, while the amount of monthly active users climbed 16% over precisely the same period last year to 2.07 billion.
The sole concern for investors faster than predicted earnings, or came from comments made by Facebook CFO David Wehner that 2018 working expenses look set to grow 45% to 60%. This information caused the stock to drop by 2% of the company.
Expert opinion
David Barker, Managing Director & SVP at Amobee EMEA:
“Facebook has recently staged recent storms because of its unyielding focus on the future, ensuring it continues to deliver third-party additional value to its advertisers.
“Where Russian ads may have shed a light on some of the darker corners of the internet in general, new features like the capability to place video advertisements in-stream, tools to drive offline actions along with Facebook’s detailed measurement capacities are just a snapshot of the provider is performing to turn value.
“Obviously, this might appear as a drop in the sea when we think of these innovations around the corner, as the company explores ways to monetise WhatsApp and Messenger to stay on top in this pristine environment. Facebook will continue to see partnerships that enhances the features of the API. This future vision enables Facebook partners to accelerate, and make bolder investments in creation.”
Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO at Socialbakers:
“We’ve seen Facebook’s stock price grow by more than 50% this year and it is not showing signs of slowing.
“Recent jobs like avoiding further advertisement saturation on the News Feed with ads on Immediate Articles and Videos, and the programs increasing 2 billion user base makes it prime for rising digital advertising revenue spend.
“Facebook’s growth into additional markets like Asia Pacific, will further expand its reach and keep to keep the social giant far ahead of its peers in regard to sheer quantity and therefore participation and potential ad revenue. The business must stay mindful of oversaturation and subsequently irritating users.
“As another arm of Facebook, Instagram has also emerged as an advertising powerhouse creating significant revenue for Facebook, as we are seeing more and more entrepreneurs shifting their attention towards Instagram for both the natural and paid action. The introduction of the Stories purpose is currently improving its relevance and will continue to galvanise market share. Instagram has contributed to Facebook’s numbers this quarter and will continue to do so in the future”
