Despite ongoing concerns over brand safety, the proliferation of fake news, and now speculated Russian interference on social media platforms, Facebook profit hit the $4.7 billion mark in the third quarter of 2017 – a 79% increase on Q3 2016 when it was $2.6 billion.
Advertising revenue also grew by 49% to $10.3 billion, up from $7 billion in Q3 2016 and exceeding expectations of $9.84 billion.
Mobile currently accounts for approximately 88% of all ad revenue (up from 84% in Q3 2016), with a 57% year-on-year increase taking it to $8.9 billion.
Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, said giving advertisers the ability to run ads in video alone had seen “good early results”, with more than 70% of ad breaks, and 50% of Facebook Audience Network viewed-to-completion – most with the sound on.
While the platform has seen some impressive financial gains, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said protecting the Facebook community is more important than maximising profit.
“Our community continues to grow and our business is doing well,” Zuckerberg said. “But none of that matters if our services are used in ways that don’t bring people closer together.
“We’re serious about preventing abuse on our platforms. We’re investing so much in security that it will impact our profitability. Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits.”
Last month Facebook announced that its UK year-on-year revenue quadrupled in 2016 to £842.4 million – up from £210.8 million in 2015 – while profit after tax increased from a £41.2 million loss in 2015 to a £55.8 million profit in 2016.
1.37 billion people worldwide now access Facebook every day – up 16% year-on-year. Facebook’s headcount also grew 47% year-on-year to 23,165.
