Home Facebook Doubles Revenue – How Long Can it Sustain This Growth?

Facebook Doubles Revenue – How Long Can it Sustain This Growth?

According to reports, Facebook has doubled its revenue in the first half of 2011. Reuters reports an undisclosed source that says the company made $1.6 billion in the first six months of this year, nearly double what it made in the same time in 2010. The largest portion of Facebook’s revenue is believed to come from advertising, indicating the company has created a dynamic niche for itself on the Web that advertisers are beginning to flock to en masse.

Contrast Facebook’s rising star to that of Yahoo, one of the original Web portals. Yahoo still does decent overall numbers with display ads, but its slice of the pie declined from 14.4% to 13.1% this year. Meanwhile, Facebook continues to rise as the way people interact with the Web shifts.

Given that the entire Internet display ad market is predicted to be $12.33 billion this year, 1.3% is a significant retreat for Yahoo. Meanwhile, Facebook rose from 12.2% of display ads in 2010 to 17.7% this year, according to eMarketer research from June. If those numbers hold their course, Facebook will make approximately $2.18 billion from displays this year.

Google has not historically been big in display ads, but it is also increasing its revenue from that advertising segment, to a predicted 9.3% share. That is up from 4.6% of the display ad revenue pie in 2009. Google still dominates most advertising on the Internet though, though it is increasingly setting up a battle with Facebook for advertisers’ dollars.

Facebook Ready To Diversify

Facebook has other sources of revenue as well. Facebook Credits are becoming more popular and, if the company can successfully launch a HTML5-based Web application store for mobile apps, its Credits product will become much more lucrative. Facebook also takes 30% of revenue generated by the sale of virtual goods sold in games on its platform.

Data compiled by ad network DoubleClick, a subsidiary of Google, showed that Facebook exceeded the a trillion page views in June. That is an astounding number. Facebook has 750 million registered users, CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg claimed when the company announced its Skype integration in July.

Facebook is at an inflection point. It is profitable and now is in the multi-billion-dollar revenue club and still climbing. Like Google before it, Facebook now has the opportunity to spread its tendrils into other marketing verticals that will cause revenue to skyrocket. Its strong relationship with developers in games, mobile and for the Web platform will create significant growth opportunities in the next several years.

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