Facebook Better Get Mobile Quick. 102M People Accessed Solely From Mobile In June, Up 23% Since March
There's a staggering new statistic in Facebook's 10-Q SEC document today: 102 million people accessed Facebook solely from mobile in June, a massive 23% increase over the 83 million mobile-only users in March.
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook enters its first post-IPO earnings release with its shares down more than 40% from their May debut and mounting pressure to increase advertising. The June disclosure makes the monetization problem more concrete: a fast-growing portion of the audience is using Facebook without the desktop environment where its advertising business was established.
First-order effects
- Facebook must make its mobile product capable of carrying advertising and other revenue-generating features for a user segment that does not reach the desktop site.
- Investors assessing Facebook’s first earnings report gain a clearer measure of the gap between audience growth and the company’s established desktop monetization model.
Second-order effects
- Mobile ad formats and measurement become strategic priorities for Facebook, because desktop ad performance alone no longer represents the behavior of its full audience.
- Advertisers seeking Facebook reach will increasingly need campaigns that work within the constraints of mobile screens rather than desktop placements.
Third-order effects
- If mobile-only usage continues to grow, Facebook’s economics will be set less by the web display-ad model and more by its ability to turn a mobile app into an advertising distribution channel.
- The disclosure points to a broader shift in which consumer internet companies must build monetization around mobile-first behavior instead of treating mobile as an extension of the website.
The trend: Consumer internet platforms are being forced to rebuild advertising products around mobile usage as audiences move beyond the desktop web.