The Drum asked companies in the mobile sector what this means for Facebook, and if it is set to continue.
Victor Malachard, CEO and co-founder, Adfonic
The Facebook figures are very encouraging for mobile advertising overall. They show that the move to mobile is happening, to the extent that mobile now forms a significant and growing proportion of Facebook's revenue. They also demonstrate that data-driven mobile advertising works, in that agencies and brands can trust the networks to use big data and smart algorithms to find the right audiences for their ads. This is why mobile real-time bidding will similarly play an increasing role in mobile advertising generally over the coming months, as the entire ecosystem gains confidence in what data-driven mobile advertising can deliver.
Richard Gregory, managing director, Latitude Digital Marketing
Facebook has, for a while now, been moving towards performing as a hybrid platform for branding and direct response generation, with the launch of tools such as App Install Ads. Despite this move, I can’t help thinking that the percentage is more reflective of the times we live in with more people favouring mobile over desktop, than Facebook’s efforts to monetise from mobile. Facebook still has a fair bit to go in terms of fully leveraging its 680 million daily mobile users, as mobile accounts for over half of the users but only 30 per cent of the revenue. Google has embraced the same challenge with more success to date.
John Stoneman, GM Brand Europe, InMobi
Facebook has had a particular focus on increasing its mobile ad presence over the last year, which it has done so at an astonishing rate. As the appetite for mobile media continues to rise, it is increasingly becoming the core platform through which consumers access the internet and engage online. To announce that 30 per cent of Facebook’s advertising revenue in Q1 came through mobile is testament to that. The mobile advertising market will continue to grow at a rapid pace and more and more brands will see the benefits of incorporating mobile into their marketing strategies to enable the delivery of high-impact and targeted campaigns. The success seen by Facebook should be evidence enough to encourage others to do so.
Dave Gwozdz, CEO, Mojiva Inc
If there’s one thing Facebook’s revenue numbers are indicative of it’s that mobile advertising, for anyone who is still not convinced, is alive and well. And if done properly, as Facebook appears to have done, mobile can be an exceptional revenue driver. This is an important progression for Facebook and it shows that relevance in advertising within this most personal medium is not only accepted worldwide, but is also useful to hundreds of millions of Facebook consumers whose daily lives are now, in a sense, entertained, managed and chaperoned by these powerful mobile devices.
Jon Mew, director of mobile and operations, IAB
It’s always encouraging to see companies doing so well on mobile. However, with consumers now choosing to spend over a third of their time online on their mobile and tablets it’s important for advertisers to make sure they aren’t left behind. Our recent ad spend figures are promising though with mobile showing signs of catching up quickly, with advertising spend up 148 per cent in the last year alone. Looking into the future First Partner have forecasted mobile advertising in the UK to be worth £2bn by 2017, so there are no signs of this medium slowing anytime soon.
