Facebook forecast to double revenue to £2.72bn
September 22, 2011
Facebook is predicted to double revenue this year to £2.72bn, as advertisers flock to the social network.
Figures released by market research firm eMarketer suggest that firms were more than twice as likely to use Facebook than Twitter.
Advertising revenue is expected to leap from an estimated £1.19bn last year to £2.42bn this year.
Revenue from Facebook Credits - a way to buy computer games on the site with virtual currency - has more than tripled from £89.3m to £300m, according to eMarketer.
"Facebook's revenue streams will continue to diversify," said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson. "Advertising will be a decreasing proportion of total revenue while other sources such as Facebook Credits will grow" .
Despite the massive increase in predicted revenue Williamson warned that Facebook still needed to prove to advertisers that its products deliver results.
“Even though Facebook has spent several years wooing marketers, many of them still believe the ads aren't effective at driving clicks and other actions," said Williamson.
"Facebook must either work to improve its clickthrough rate or show advertisers that advertising on the site is effective even without a click or other action."
As a privately held company Facebook, which has more than 750 million members, does not officially disclose figures on its financial performance.
However, the eMarketer figures are considered by many in the technology industry to be an accurate reflection of the company's fortunes.
The company is expected to go public in the latter half of next year.
