Facebook continues to grow incredibly rich – thanks to its big bet on connecting with people who use mobile devices.
Here are the mobile-relevant numbers from Facebook’s latest earnings report, released today. MFour Mobile Research, the leader and pioneer in all-mobile consumer surveys, urges the market research industry to take special note.
- Facebook had 1.51 billion unique monthly active mobile users during the first three months of 2016. They accounted for 91.5% of the site’s users.
- Mobile users were up 21% from the first quarter of 2015.
- Facebook raked in $4.3 billion in mobile advertising. That accounted for 79% of the company’s $5.4 billion in revenue.
- Facebook made a $2 billion profit for the quarter, more than double last year’s take for the first quarter.
The social media giant has come a long way from 2012, when it had virtually no mobile ad revenue. As the New York Times put it in a recent article, Facebook “was late to realize the importance of mobile phones; for years, its smartphone app was a slow, kludgy mess, and until just a few years ago it had no mobile revenue to speak of…. Facebook now derives the vast majority of its revenue from mobile ads. Its sales are growing at a breathtaking clip.”
Market research also has been “late to realize the importance of mobile phones.” But as Facebook shows us, it’s better late than never – WAY better.
MFour, based in Irvine, CA., invented all-mobile consumer research in 2011. Its million-member active panel of survey-takers is the largest, most diverse posse you can reach via smartphone for fast, demographically inclusive, high-impact consumer insights. Now MFour is democratizing mobile research with MFourDIY, its new do-it-yourself mobile survey platform. Check out a special introductory offer at mfourdiy.com.
Mobile rules. Mobile earns. Don’t take our word for it, take Mark Zuckerberg’s.