Los Angeles — Facebook, the world’s most popular social media outfit has been capturing endless media attention these days and for good reason–it is viewed as a new destination for marketer’s heaven. In other words, Facebook served up nearly a third of the 1.11 trillion display ads delivered to US Internet users in the first quarter of this year, industry tracker comScore said on Wednesday.
Facebook was at the center stage as it claimed more than 31% of all display ad impressions or roughly 346 billion “impressions,” or views, of display ads nearly doubling the number seen in the same quarter a year earlier — that is increased by 17% from Q3 of last year, which is the last time comScore reported quarterly numbers. Facebook also grew its display market share 8 percentage points since that time, from 23%, according to the company.
It is not just buzz about Facebook that is rapidly increasing, which has outpaced all others and nobody else is even came close — except Yahoo sites meanwhile scored second with 112.5 billion impressions (10.1%) in Q1 2011, and the market drops rapidly from there, followed by Microsoft sites in third with 53.6 billion impressions (4.8%). AOL ranked fourth with 33.4 billion impressions (3.0%) and Google claimed fifth with 27.9 billion impressions (2.5%).
“The US online display advertising market maintained its strong momentum from last year with a terrific first quarter,” Jeff Hackett, comScore executive vice president, said in a statement.
“We are now witnessing more than one trillion display ads delivered every single quarter and nearly 300 individual advertisers spending at least $1 million a quarter on display,” he added.
Here is the full chart:
|
Top 10 U.S. Online Display Ad* Publishers Q1 2011 |
||
|
|
Total |
Share of Display Ad Impressions |
|
Total Internet : Total Audience |
1,110,448 |
100.0% |
|
Facebook.com |
346,455 |
31.2% |
|
Yahoo! Sites |
112,511 |
10.1% |
|
Microsoft Sites |
53,592 |
4.8% |
|
AOL, Inc. |
33,454 |
3.0% |
|
Google Sites |
27,993 |
2.5% |
|
Turner Digital |
18,050 |
1.6% |
|
Fox Interactive Media |
11,697 |
1.1% |
|
Glam Media |
10,207 |
0.9% |
|
CBS Interactive |
9,208 |
0.8% |
|
Viacom Digital |
9,051 |
0.8% |
“These figures, which emphasize just how large and vibrant the online medium has become. And it is not just about the volume but about the quality of the advertising experience that can be delivered as we see continued investment in compelling, high-quality creative that helps cultivate long-term brand equity,” said Hackett.
Moreover, these latest statistics represents ample proof, if anyone needed it, that social media network Facebook’s advertising business is off to a running start in 2011. Facebook’s dominance in the market has prompted it to raise its ad unit prices by 40% according to one report while another speculated that the company’s IPO could be in the $100 billion range next year. Facebook’s business is growing faster than previously thought.
Interestingly, if Facebook continues with this trend as more people unearth the low learning curve and the low cost, the site will serve over a trillion impressions in 2011 alone. There is nothing else that compares for a small ad budget and this growth will continue.