Meta, parent company of Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, has seen its advertising revenue surge by more than a quarter year-on-year in Q3.
The business helmed by Mark Zuckerberg recorded US$39.89 billion (AU$60.7 billion) in advertising revenue in Q3 2024, but that rocketed to US$50.1 billion (AU$76 billion) in the quarter just ended.
Over the nine months ended in September, ad revenue climbed 21 per cent year-on-year from US$113.9 billion to US$138 billion (AU$173.2 billion to AU$210 billion).
All told, advertising in the quarter just ended accounted for 97.7 per cent of Meta’s revenue.
What’s more, Meta told the market in its earnings release that it expects a “significant reduction” in its US federal cash tax payments for the rest of the year and future years due to implementation of US President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“We had a strong quarter for our business and our community,” said Zuckerberg. “Meta Superintelligence Labs is off to a great start and we continue to lead the industry in AI glasses. If we deliver even a fraction of the opportunity ahead, then the next few years will be the most exciting period in our history.”
Locally, Will Easton, Meta’s ANZ MD said:
“We had a strong quarter, with our focus on driving growth with our advertising partners and our ongoing innovation agenda. This past quarter, we unveiled a new category of wearable AI products, including the Oakley Meta Vanguard and the Ray-Ban Meta 2.0 glasses. Looking forward, we see glasses as the most exciting new hardware category of the AI era, and we can’t wait for more Australians to experience them. Our leading AI-powered ad solutions continue to accelerate results for our partners, and we look forward to supporting them during the upcoming sales season.”
The Asia-Pacific region accounted for around a fifth of Meta’s ad revenue in Q3, with the US and Canada making up more than two-fifths and Europe a little more than Asia-Pacific.
The number of daily active users on Meta’s family of apps stood at 3.54 billion people, remarkably up 8 per cent year-on-year. The total number of ad impressions served across Meta’s services increased 14 per cent year-on-year and the average price per ad increased by 10 per cent year-on-year.
Meta’s Reality Labs division, which includes its virtual, augmented, and mixed reality related consumer hardware, software and content lost some US$4.4 billion in the quarter, slightly up year-on-year.
