Ad spending on Facebook to reach $1.2 billion this year
According to new research from eMarketer, advertisers will spend a predicted $1.28 billion on Facebook in 2010.
US ad spending on Facebook is estimated to be $835 million this year. By comparison, eMarketer’s forecast for AOL’s net US ad revenues is $890 million.
In 2009, total ad spending was $665 million, and predicted ad spending for 2011 is £1.76 billion. This would be a 165% increase.
By contrast, MySpace is expected to get $297 million in advertising revenue next year. This is a drop of 14%, down from $347 million this year.
eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson said: “Brand advertisers are making Facebook a core buy. Ad spending is building quickly and the mass audience is one that marketers cannot ignore any longer.”
One reason for Facebook’s high advertising revenue has been its self-serve ad system, which allows advertisers use to make and target the small advertisements that appear on the right side of Facebook pages, Ms. Williamson said.
eMarketer estimates say that the tool accounts for at least half of Facebook’s revenue, if not more, and that previous forecasts did not fully realise the extent of this system.