Google is leading the charge on mobile ad revenues, but Facebook is closing the gap. The two companies’ jointly control nearly 70% of mobile ad revenue, according to new estimates from EMarketer.
Google owns more than 53% of mobile ad market share, to Facebook’s 16% — placing both well ahead of players like Pandora, YP, Twitter and Millennial Media.
“Facebook has charged ahead of most of its competitors in the mobile display space, and at the moment, the reach that they offer advertisers combined with their targeting makes them a relatively singular option for advertisers looking to reach people with display ads on mobile,” commented Clark Fredricksen, a VP at eMarketer.
He added, “The fact that Facebook, which does not have a search ad business akin to Google’s, for instance, has grabbed such a significant portion of all mobile revenues is impressive.”
Facebook’s redistribution of revenue from desktop to mobile, as well as its continued incremental growth around mobile is allowing the platform to grab a larger piece of the revenue pie. Couple this with the fact that Google has dipped its feet in business beyond ads like devices, commerce and operating systems and it makes Facebook’s growing mobile clout something to pay attention to, Fredricksen said.
In terms of net ownership of digital ad revenues, Google, again, leads the pack at $38.6 billion. Facebook ad revenues were up, with eMarketer citing “stellar performance” in Q2 for the upward revision. Originally forecasted for $5.89 billion in June, Facebook’s digital ad revenues for 2013 are now projected at $6.36 billion.
Amazon is also enjoying notable growth, and should see global ad revenues increase by 38% this year to $840 million. That represents a doubling of ad revenue since 2011’s figure of $420 million. Twitter, too, while still relatively early on in its advertising roadmap, saw its digital ad revenues shoot up from $140 million in 2011 to $580 million in 2013.
