Facebook recently published its Earnings Presentation for Q4 of 2020, detailing revenue, userbase expansion, and overall growth for the social media platform across the time span. Let's have a quick look at how things are going for it.
A quick answer to this question is rather well. Facebook's still seeing a surprising amount of growth, despite the amount of controversy it's generated over the past few months regarding the FTC lawsuit, the WhatsApp policy fiasco and, more recently, heavy criticism regarding it's unwitting role as a planning space for the US Capitol riot. At any rate, while the discussion of Facebook's socio-political ramifications could certainly make for an interesting discussion, there's too much history to delve into. Accordingly, let's shift our focus a bit more towards the numbers at play here.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, Facebook saw an increase in daily active users (labelled DAU), with 1,845 million users as compared to Q4 2019's 1,657 million. This marks a year to year growth of around 188 million users, as opposed to the 134 million increase in the 2018-2019 period. The Asia-Pacific market contributed a significant chunk of Q4 2020's userbase spike, with a year to year rise of 103 million DAUs, possibly owing to the area's relatively large population. It should also be noted that India makes up a rather large marketplace for Facebook as it is.
Facebook's average revenue per user (ARPU) also warrants some discussion, and not just due to its steady expansion. Sitting at $10.14 worldwide in Q4 2020, with a $1.62 increase from Q4 2019's $8.52, growth definitely hasn't met any signification hurdles for the social network. With the USA and Canada bringing in the most ARPU at $53.56, there's been some definitive earning for Zuckerberg, and notably, advertising makes up a huge bulk of these earnings. Worldwide, for example, advertising takes in $9.82 of the aforementioned $10.14, leaving other earnings at a paltry $0.32.
iOS 14's allowing users to easily back out of targeted ads has riled up Facebook to no end, sending the company in a tirade of masquerading as the champion of smaller businesses and tech start-ups looking to make a living. The sheer mass of Facebook's own advertising revenue, combined with how much it propagates siphoning user info to drive the advertising business, does expose a certain bad-tasting self interest the company has in such a relentless campaign against Apple simply giving its users some agency in sharing their personal information.
Speaking of total revenue, Q4 2020 earned Facebook a whopping $28,072 million, with a year to year increase of $6,990 million from Q4 2019. Compared to 2018-2019's increase of $4,168 million, growth for the tech giant's chugging along like an especially energetic tank engine. On a final note, it should be noted that advertising contributed $27,182 million to Q4 2020. Facebook's cries against Apple's user-friendly policies come across as even more petulant at this point.
Read next: How Does Facebook’s AI Determine A User’s News Feed?
A quick answer to this question is rather well. Facebook's still seeing a surprising amount of growth, despite the amount of controversy it's generated over the past few months regarding the FTC lawsuit, the WhatsApp policy fiasco and, more recently, heavy criticism regarding it's unwitting role as a planning space for the US Capitol riot. At any rate, while the discussion of Facebook's socio-political ramifications could certainly make for an interesting discussion, there's too much history to delve into. Accordingly, let's shift our focus a bit more towards the numbers at play here.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, Facebook saw an increase in daily active users (labelled DAU), with 1,845 million users as compared to Q4 2019's 1,657 million. This marks a year to year growth of around 188 million users, as opposed to the 134 million increase in the 2018-2019 period. The Asia-Pacific market contributed a significant chunk of Q4 2020's userbase spike, with a year to year rise of 103 million DAUs, possibly owing to the area's relatively large population. It should also be noted that India makes up a rather large marketplace for Facebook as it is.
Facebook's average revenue per user (ARPU) also warrants some discussion, and not just due to its steady expansion. Sitting at $10.14 worldwide in Q4 2020, with a $1.62 increase from Q4 2019's $8.52, growth definitely hasn't met any signification hurdles for the social network. With the USA and Canada bringing in the most ARPU at $53.56, there's been some definitive earning for Zuckerberg, and notably, advertising makes up a huge bulk of these earnings. Worldwide, for example, advertising takes in $9.82 of the aforementioned $10.14, leaving other earnings at a paltry $0.32.
iOS 14's allowing users to easily back out of targeted ads has riled up Facebook to no end, sending the company in a tirade of masquerading as the champion of smaller businesses and tech start-ups looking to make a living. The sheer mass of Facebook's own advertising revenue, combined with how much it propagates siphoning user info to drive the advertising business, does expose a certain bad-tasting self interest the company has in such a relentless campaign against Apple simply giving its users some agency in sharing their personal information.
Speaking of total revenue, Q4 2020 earned Facebook a whopping $28,072 million, with a year to year increase of $6,990 million from Q4 2019. Compared to 2018-2019's increase of $4,168 million, growth for the tech giant's chugging along like an especially energetic tank engine. On a final note, it should be noted that advertising contributed $27,182 million to Q4 2020. Facebook's cries against Apple's user-friendly policies come across as even more petulant at this point.
Read next: How Does Facebook’s AI Determine A User’s News Feed?
