Meta’s advertising revenues jumped by 24 per cent year-on-year to $US38 billion ($AU58.8 billion) in the three months ended 31 December.
The number of ad impressions across all of Meta’s apps increased by more than a fifth and the average price per ad climbed by two per cent. Overall, the company’s revenue jumped by 25 per cent in the last quarter of 2023 compared to the same time in 2022.
“We had a good quarter as our community and business continue to grow,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO. “We’ve made a lot of progress on our vision for advancing AI and the metaverse.”
As a result of those bumper earnings, Meta’s stock price surged by 14 per cent in extended trading — despite Zuck’s bruising appearance in front of the US Senate Judiciary Committee which accused the American businessman of ignoring the severity of of child exploitation on his company’s apps.
Its Reality Labs division, which is responsible for creating the metaverse, saw its losses grow a further nine per cent in the last quarter for just over $US4.6 billion ($AU7 billion).
Meanwhile, Amazon saw its ad revenues climb by 27 per cent year — though it is operating in an entirely different universe to Meta’s soaring ad money.
In Q4 2023, it brought in $US14.6 billion ($AU22.2 billion), up from $US11.5 billion ($AU17.49 billion).
“This Q4 was a record-breaking Holiday shopping season and closed out a robust 2023 for Amazon,” said Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO.
“While we made meaningful revenue, operating income, and free cash flow progress, what we’re most pleased with is the continued invention and customer experience improvements across our businesses… AWS’s continued long-term focus on customers and feature delivery, coupled with new genAI capabilities like Bedrock, Q, and Trainium have resonated with customers and are starting to be reflected in our overall results; our Advertising services continue to improve and drive positive results; our newer businesses are progressing nicely, and along with our more established businesses, collectively making customers’ lives easier and better every day”.
