If you needed more proof that Facebook is absolutely crushing it on mobile, consider this: More than a billion people now check Facebook from their phones every single day. Facebook revealed the new milestone today (July 27) when it released its second-quarter earnings.
Facebook now boasts a $17 billion a year mobile ad business. In the second quarter, mobile sales made up 84% of its $6.24 billion in advertising revenue. Overall, the world’s largest social network reported $2.05 billion in profit, up 186% year-over-year, on $6.43 billion in total revenue, which rose 59% from the year-ago period. It ended the second quarter with 1.71 billion monthly active users.
“Mobile is no longer a nice to do,” chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg told investors in a call. “It’s a must do, and we’re working closely with marketers to make this transition.”
Facebook’s dominance on mobile is all the more remarkable when you consider how the company had zero mobile revenue four years ago. Back then, analysts highlighted mobile as Facebook’s major weakness. But with persistence, strategic acquisitions, and internal development, Facebook’s portfolio today includes mega hits like chat apps WhatsApp and Messenger, both of which have more than 1 billion users, and Instagram, which has more than 500 million users. All the while, Facebook proper has seen the number of people who access the social network solely from their computers slowly dwindling away.
Analysts had feared Facebook’s growth would show new signs of deceleration, but the behemoth is reporting steady growth in mobile revenue, even ticking up slightly the last four quarters.
Investors are clearly pleased with Facebook’s performance, shooting shares up 6.6% after hours.