Facebook Inc’s quarterly revenue surged 50.8 percent as the world’s largest social network continues to benefit from its aggressive push into mobiles and video. Mobile ad revenue accounted for 84 percent of company’s total advertising revenue of USD 8.63 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with 80 percent a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected total ad revenue of USD 8.31 billion, according to research firm FactSet Street Account. The strong results allay some concerns after the company warned in November that ad growth would likely slow “meaningfully” due to limits on “ad load” – the total number of ads Facebook can show to each user.
Facebook is expected to generate about USD 29.71 billion in mobile ad revenue in 2017, according to research firm eMarketer, up about 35.2 percent from 2016.
Net income attributable to Facebook shareholders rose to USD 3.56 billion, or USD 1.21 per share, from USD 1.56 billion, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier. Total revenue rose to USD 8.81 billion from USD 5.84 billion.