Facebook has reported strong revenue growth for the first quarter, driven largely by higher ad prices on its platform.
The social media company posted advertising revenue of US$25.4 billion in the three months to March, up 46% year-on-year from US$17.4 billion.
Daily active users (DAUs) was 1.88 billion on average for March, up 8%. Monthly active users (MAUs) was 2.85 billion as of March 3, up 10%.
Facebook's advertising revenue growth was driven by a 30% year-over-year increase in the average price per ad and a 12% increase in the number of ads delivered.
“We expect that advertising revenue growth will continue to be primarily driven by price during the rest of 2021,” the company said in a statement.
“We expect second quarter 2021 year-over-year total revenue growth to remain stable or modestly accelerate relative to the growth rate in the first quarter of 2021 as we lap slower growth related to the pandemic during the second quarter of 2020.
“In the third and fourth quarters of 2021, we expect year-over-year total revenue growth rates to significantly decelerate sequentially as we lap periods of increasingly strong growth.”
Facebook also expects increased ad targeting headwinds this year due to regulations and platform changes, notably Apple’s iOS update, which it expects to start having an impact in the second quarter.
“There is also continuing uncertainty around the viability of transatlantic data transfers in light of recent European regulatory developments, and like companies across a wide range of industries, we are closely monitoring the potential impact on our European operations as these developments progress,” the company says.
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