Facebook has reported a decrease in users in the US and Canada but moderate revenue growth as ad revenue still soared in the third quarter of this year.
In the US and Canada, Facebook’s user base fell to 196 million daily active users from 198 million a quarter earlier.
The StopHateForProfit ad boycott did not seem to impact the company’s advertising revenue, which was up 22% compared to a year ago.
The company said its U.S. and Canada user base had been elevated during the second quarter due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company cautioned that it expects its user base in the U.S. and Canada to remain flat or decrease in the fourth quarter.
Its user base in Europe remained flat at 305 million daily active users for the third consecutive quarter.
Facebook said it counts 3.21 billion monthly users across its family of apps, compared to 3.14 billion in the previous quarter. This metric is used to measure Facebook’s total user base across its main app, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.
The StopHateForProfit ad boycott did not seem to impact the company’s advertising business, with ad revenue up 22% compared to a year ago. Additionally, the company now has 10 million active advertisers, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call. That’s up from 9 million in July. The boycott included more than 1,000 advertisers that paused ads on the social network during the month of July in protest of the company’s hate speech and misinformation policies.
Facebook expects its fourth quarter ad revenue growth rate to be higher than the third quarter, driven by holiday season demand, the company said.
Facebook’s “Other” revenue came in at $249 million for the quarter, down 7% compared to last year.
This includes sales of Oculus virtual reality headsets and the Portal video-chatting devices. However, the company said sales of the Oculus Quest 2 have been strong and could benefit its “Other” revenue in the fourth quarter.
Aaron Goldman, Chief Marketing Officer at Mediaocean, said: “With Q3 revenue topping $20 billion, it’s clear Facebook has been able to weather the recent storm. Brands using Mediaocean’s Scope closed ecosystems platform increase their ad budgets year-over-year in September at the highest rate of any month in 2020 since February. We except this to continue as we head into Q4 and marketers prioritize platforms that can deliver proven ROI at scale.”
