| |
Facebook hit a new milestone last quarter by Rayna Hollander on Jul 28, 2017, 11:13 AM Advertisement
 This story was delivered to BI Intelligence Apps and Platforms Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. Facebook saw solid growth across major metrics in Q2 2017, including monthly and daily users, revenue, and time spent on mobile, the company reported during its earnings call on Wednesday. The world’s largest social network beat expectations with total revenue accelerating 45% year-over-year (YoY) to $9.3 billion for the quarter, and total advertising revenue advancing 47% to $9.2 billion. Notably, mobile advertising revenue accounted for 87% of all ad revenue, up from 84% in Q2 2016. On the user front, Facebook hit a new milestone by reaching 2 billion monthly active users (MAU), while daily active users (DAU) landed at 1.32 billion. Both metrics were up 17% YoY. Facebook's footprint is massive, still growing, and provides the manpower and revenue necessary to explore new tech products. The company's ability to post double-digit growth past the 1-billion-user mark highlights the sheer momentum Facebook has as an oft-used product in developed markets, and a popular choice in emerging ones. As the company continues to push forward, there are three key focuses that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is paying mind to: The immediate need to improve existing services, the need to build out lesser-used products into robust ecosystems, and doubling down on creating and supporting nascent tech to continue to grow over the next decade. Here are a few main segments Facebook is focusing on to continue expanding its platform: - Finding the right way to monetize Messenger and WhatsApp at the right time. Facebook Messenger is not bringing in revenue the way Zuckerberg originally envisioned. The company initially tried to monetize by pushing businesses to create chatbots to converse directly with consumers, but the tech has yet to catch on widely. And although Facebook recently began enabling marketers to place ads inside the Messenger app, this has yet to generate the revenue desired. On the WhatsApp front, Facebook is exploring products that connect businesses to consumers as a path to monetization. WhatsApp and Messenger have 1.3 billion and 1.2 billion monthly users, respectively.
- Making incremental solutions toward its goal of bringing virtual reality (VR) to the mainstream. The company is preparing to unveil a new and affordable stand-alone VR headset in 2018 after permanently reducing the price of its Oculus Rift headset and Touch bundle to $499 from $599. The new offerings will make the devices more accessible for the average consumer, as price is one of the primary reasons consumers are hesitant to buy VR headsets — in 2016, just 21% of US consumers interested in purchasing a VR product in the next six months had a budget exceeding $600, according to a Newzoo survey.
- Leveraging the camera as the first augmented reality (AR) platform. Facebook launched the Camera Effects platform during F8 in April, and it plans to use its extensive developer community to make this the next major app ecosystem. The company has also been working under the radar on advanced AR applications, like recognizing individual objects in videos, blending the real world with animated objects, and creating 3D scenes from 2D photos.
One technology that Facebook is leveraging to advance all three of its key focus areas is artificial intelligence (AI). The company is using AI to replace some of Facebook’s human content moderators, who flag offensive content prior to going public, help Facebook find relevant content to show its users, and optimize ad targeting. Facebook also released AI tools with the launch of Messenger platform 2.1 Thursday, touting the addition of built-in natural language processing (NLP) tools to enable developers to create more functional and conversational bots for the messaging platform. Facebook will likely continue to develop AI capabilities to streamline its processes like content moderating, optimize ad targeting and feature discovery for users, and to make its messaging apps more useful. First came emojis. Then stickers followed. And now photos and videos have become integral to messaging apps that once could convey nothing more than plain text. Thanks to the ever-growing popularity of Snapchat, the camera is quickly taking precedence over the keyboard when it comes to users creating and sharing content on their smartphones. This evolution reflects changes in the way people use their devices and the increasing power of smartphone cameras. The implications for device makers and social platforms, as well as the publishers and marketers that rely on them, are profound. Laurie Beaver, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the battle for the smartphone camera that: - Describes how smartphone cameras are being leveraged by chat apps.
- Explains the how brands and businesses can take advantage of cameras on messaging apps.
- Highlights the differences between certain messaging apps and their strengths and weaknesses.
- Looks at the potential barriers that could limit the adoption and use of chat apps’ cameras.
To get the full report, subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now You can also purchase and download the full report from our research store.
| |
0 comments:
Post a Comment