Mark Zuckerberg says showing fewer viral videos reduced the total time people spent on Facebook by ~50M hours every day, as MAUs reach 2.13B, up 14% YoY
Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) today reported financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2017.
Context & Ripple Effects
In its Q4 2017 report, Facebook disclosed something unusual for an ad business: it deliberately showed users fewer viral videos, and Mark Zuckerberg quantified the cost at roughly 50M hours of daily time spent — even as the prior year's quarters had shown engagement metrics climbing steadily alongside revenue.
The disclosure matters because later coverage shows the trade was not permanent: by mid-2021 Zuckerberg said video now accounts for almost half of all time spent on Facebook, with Reels the largest contributor to engagement growth — meaning the company eventually rebuilt the very passive-video consumption it had cut.
First-order effects
- Advertisers buying Facebook's feed inventory immediately face ~50M fewer daily hours of supply, even as the audience itself keeps expanding to 2.13B MAUs, up 14% YoY.
- Zuckerberg publicly commits Facebook to prioritizing 'meaningful' interaction over raw watch time, making time-spent a managed metric rather than a maximized one.
Second-order effects
- Sacrificing 50M daily hours creates pressure to find replacement engagement, which the later record shows arriving through video formats like Reels rather than the viral clips that were suppressed.
- Rivals in short-form video inherit attention Facebook voluntarily cedes, raising the competitive stakes for whoever captures displaced passive viewing.
Third-order effects
- The episode establishes a template of engagement retrenchment followed by re-expansion through new formats — a cycle where platforms can afford short-term time-spent cuts only if a successor format recovers them.
- If regulators and advertisers treat declared time reductions as credibility signals, platforms gain an incentive to publicize such cuts during periods of scrutiny, as Facebook did here alongside strong user growth.
The trend: Social platforms are learning to trade raw engagement time for perceived quality in the short term, then rebuild watch time through owned video formats — a cycle Facebook itself completed between this 2018 disclosure and its 2021 Reels push.
Related: Facebook · Mark Zuckerberg · Video now almost half of Facebook time spent · Facebook posts Q1 revenue of $8.03B
Related Coverage
- Mark Zuckerberg says he wants Facebook to be more than “just fun” Quartz · Hanna Kozlowska
- 186.89 USD — Facebook has become the technology industry's boy who cried wolf. Bloomberg · Shira Ovide
- Mark Zuckerberg brags that people now spend less time on Facebook than before BGR · Chris Smith
- Mark Zuckerberg says spending less time on Facebook is a good thing — for now Recode · Kurt Wagner
- Facebook Beats on Earnings, Less Time Being Spent on the Platform iPhone in Canada Blog · Christopher Baugh
- ‘WhatsApp has 1.5 B monthly active users; Stories will overtake posts’ — Mark Zuckerberg Yourstory · Harshith Mallya
- Facebook shares set for new all-time high after Wall Street analysts say strong ad pricing to trump news feed drag CNBC · Tae Kim
- People Are Spending Less Time On Facebook, But Investors Are Still Backing The Company BuzzFeed · Alex Kantrowitz
- Facebook enables ‘fake news’ by reliance on digital advertising - report The Guardian · Alex Hern
- I salute the 1 million North Americans who ditched Facebook last quarter The Next Web · Abhimanyu Ghoshal
- Facebook Aims to Soothe Wall Street Over News Feed Changes New York Times · Sheera Frenkel
- Mark Zuckerberg boasts that changes to Facebook have caused people to spend 50 million fewer hours … Business Insider · Alexei Oreskovic
- Facebook Dispelled Worst-Case Fears About User Growth and Its Core Business TheStreet · Eric Jhonsa
- Facebook's user engagement dips on News Feed tweaks; shares fall Reuters · Aishwarya Venugopal
- Facebook's U.S. user count declines as it prioritizes well-being TechCrunch · Josh Constine
- Facebook reports Q4 revenue of $12.97B, vs $12.55B est., up 47% YoY; net income of $4.27B, up 20% YoY, despite $2.27B charge due to tax overhaul CNET · Richard Nieva
- Facebook survives Q4 despite slowest daily user growth ever TechCrunch · Josh Constine
- Facebook User Growth Slows After Questions on Societal Impact Bloomberg
- Mark Zuckerberg is now bragging about people spending less time on Facebook — and he's got the number to show it Washington Post
- Facebook's Profit Rises, but Users Spend Less Time on Network Wall Street Journal · Deepa Seetharaman
- WhatsApp hits 1.5 billion monthly users. $19B? Not so bad. TechCrunch · Josh Constine
- Mark Zuckerberg: People Are Using Facebook Less, Just As We Planned New York Magazine · Jake Swearingen
- Facebook made changes that reduced time spent on the platform by 50 million hours every day TechSpot · Shawn Knight
- Facebook Full Year 2017 Results: Solid Revenue Growth, Questions Over Future Shifts Social Media Today · Andrew Hutchinson
- Facebook results top estimates, but stock whipsaws after CFO's upbeat forecast CNBC · Anita Balakrishnan
- Facebook posts $4.2bn profit as Mark Zuckerberg laments ‘hard year’ The Guardian · Dominic Rushe
- Facebook beats on earnings but says less time being spent on platform Axios · Sara Fischer
- Facebook Is Cutting Down on Viral Videos, 2017 Revenue Topped $40 Billion Variety · Janko Roettgers
- Facebook says its users are spending 50 million fewer hours a day on the platform Business Insider · Troy Wolverton
- We just announced our quarterly results and community update. Mark Zuckerberg
- Facebook's Q4 lesson: SMBs matter more than ever ZDNet · Natalie Gagliordi
- Facebook Posts Solid Q4, But People Are Using It Less — That's Okay, Says Mark Zuckerberg Tech Times · Carl Velasco
- Facebook is untouchable Quartz · Hanna Kozlowska
- People spent 50 million hours less per day on Facebook last quarter Recode · Kurt Wagner
- Facebook users are Zucking off, but that's what Zuck wants The Register · Richard Chirgwin
- Facebook's usage decline should have investors worried — no matter what Mark Zuckerberg says Business Insider · Troy Wolverton
- People Spend Less Time on Facebook After News Feed Changes Fortune · Tom Huddleston Jr
- Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook changes reduced time spent on site by 50 million hours a day in Q4 CNBC · John Shinal
- Facebook Calms Concerns About Ad Revenue: DealBook Briefing New York Times
- Recode Daily: Facebook totally meant to lose a million daily users Recode
- We spend less time on Facebook, but it still makes loads of money Engadget · Edgar Alvarez
- Facebook just dropped a big hint that the News Feed's days may be numbered Business Insider · Alexei Oreskovic
- Actually, Mark Zuckerberg Is GLAD You're Using Facebook Less Gizmodo · Bryan Menegus
- Facebook's user engagement dips on News Feed tweaks, WhatsApp passes 1.5 billion monthly users VentureBeat
- Facebook Time Spent Falls, Daily Users Decline In North America AdExchanger · Allison Schiff
- Facebook made an average of $6.18 off each user in Q4, more than double three years ago CNBC · Anita Balakrishnan
- Zuckerberg: Feed changes reduced user time spent by 50 million hours Axios · Kia Kokalitcheva
- Facebook usage falls in the US as it begins to tinker with the News Feed The Verge · Jacob Kastrenakes
- Facebook Earnings: What to Watch Wall Street Journal · Deepa Seetharaman
Discussion
-
@jason_kint
Jason Kint
on x
Exactly. http://washingtonpost.com/... http://twitter.com/...
-
@kantrowitz
Alex Kantrowitz
on x
Back of the envelope math: 50 million hours per day on Facebook = 5% of time spent (per Zuck) 50 million hours x 20 = all time spent on Facebook per day We spend 1 billion hours on Facebook each day.
-
@shiraovide
Shira Ovide
on x
Amazing to see the shift in sources of Facebook's growth. The volume of ads is barely increasing. It's all about ad price growth now: pic.twitter.com/juEdir1RGf
-
@dseetharaman
Deepa Seetharaman
on x
$FB shares recovering losses now. Execs have argued that news feed changes aren't necessarily negative to the business & said average ad prices rose 43% in Q4, driven by feed ads.
-
@sarafischer
Sara Fischer
on x
Facebook mobile ad revenue in 2011: 0% Facebook mobile ad revenue in 2017: 89%
-
@shiraovide
Shira Ovide
on x
“We don't normally share time metrics,” Zuckerberg says. (Except for all the time they did share time metrics, when they were good.)
-
@shiraovide
Shira Ovide
on x
Facebook is still very, very good at making money: ARPU of $6.18, up 28% from a year ago.
-
@joshconstine
Josh Constine
on x
Whoa, Facebook shares went from -4% to +4% once the 700K US/CAN daily user decrease that dragged down growth was explained as viral video changes & not a trend http://techcrunch.com/... http://twitter.com/...
-
@joshconstine
Josh Constine
on x
Less meaningless time spent = fewer ad impressions but high engagement = higher ad prices. If Fb usage decreases don't greatly exceed the 700K US/CAN daily users it lost in Q4, Time Well Spent could be a big money-maker https://techcrunch.com/... tip @techmeme
-
@shiraovide
Shira Ovide
on x
Dear Facebook: Just tell us Instagram's revenue. Come on. Do it. Do it. Love, Shira
-
@joshconstine
Josh Constine
on x
Facebook saw a 700K drop in daily users in the US & Canada, the first decline ever, because it removed meaningless viral videos. But even without that drop, it was by far Fb's slowest daily user growth ever http://techcrunch.com/...
-
@natjarv
Natalie Jarvey
on x
One point of clarification from Zuckerberg. He's worried about passive consumption in the News Feed but calls Watch a very different ecosystem. He's optimistic that “Watch will be a use for video that helps to bring people closer together.” $FB
-
@lexnfx
Alexei Oreskovic
on x
Zuckerberg says Facebook will shift to measuring success by number of “meaningful” social interactions that people have on the platform and off. But how do you quantify “meaningful”?
-
@shiraovide
Shira Ovide
on x
Facebook is really keeping a close watch on expenses. R&D signficantly declined as a share of revenue pic.twitter.com/eAfe63pRe4
-
@jank0
Janko Roettgers
on x
Zuck: “We are excited to get Oculus Go into people's hands this year.” Wait what happened to early this year?
-
@lexnfx
Alexei Oreskovic
on x
Zuckerberg has put the 50 million hours number in context — says it's equivalent to a 5% reduction in time spent on the social network.
-
@lexnfx
Alexei Oreskovic
on x
Facebook CFO on N.American DAU decline: We don't see this as an ongoing trend, but we do anticipate that DAU in this region may fluctuate given the high penetration.
-
@lexnfx
Alexei Oreskovic
on x
Interesting to note that despite Facebook's N.American DAUs declining q-q, average rev per N.American user grew 27% q-q pic.twitter.com/wNGLuhCWLW
-
@lexnfx
Alexei Oreskovic
on x
Facebook expects ad impressions to grow “modestly” in 2018, but ad revenue to decelerate.
-
@kurtwagner8
Kurt Wagner
on x
Facebook CFO Dave Wehner: U.S. and Canada user base fell by 700,000. Said he doesn't think that will be an ongoing trend. https://twitter.com/...
-
@lexnfx
Alexei Oreskovic
on x
Woah - FB expects cap ex to more than double in 2018. From $6.7B in 2017 to a range of $14B to $15B in 2018.
-
@jguynn
Jessica Guynn
on x
Mark Zuckerberg predicts that Stories will overtake News Feed posts as the most common way people share on all social media apps. Thanks Snapchat! $FB
-
@kurtwagner8
Kurt Wagner
on x
WhatsApp: Now at 1.5 billion monthly users
-
@carnage4life
Dare Obasanjo
on x
Facebook has slowest user growth ever and DAUs dropped in US/Canada. That puts the news feed changes in context. http://www.bloomberg.com/...
-
@kantrowitz
Alex Kantrowitz
on x
Facebook's Q4 2017: Revenue: 12.97 Billion, up 47% Year Over Year Users: 2.13 Billion, up 14% YOY Employees: 25,105, up 47% YOY
-
@business
@business
on x
Facebook reported revenue for the Q4 that beat the highest analyst estimate, but user growth slightly missed estimates https://bloom.bg/2E5fJtJ pic.twitter.com/3n8lSekHxB
-
@caseynewton
Casey Newton
on x
Zuck: “Already last quarter, we made changes to show fewer viral videos to make sure people's time is well spent. In total, we made changes that reduced time spent on Facebook by roughly 50 million hours every day.” http://twitter.com/...
-
@recode
@recode
on x
Facebook's Q4 revenue was $12.9 billion. That's up 47% from a year ago. $FB http://twitter.com/...
-
@jonerlichman
Jon Erlichman
on x
Facebook's Annual Revenue: 2017: $40.7 billion 2016: $27.6 billion 2015: $17.9 billion 2014: $12.5 billion 2013: $7.9 billion 2012: $5.1 billion
-
@jonerlichman
Jon Erlichman
on x
Facebook's monthly active users: 2017: 2.13 billion 2016: 1.9 billion 2015: 1.6 billion 2014: 1.4 billion 2013: 1.2 billion 2012: 1.1 billion 2011: 845 million 2010: 608 million 2009: 360 million 2008: 140 million 2007: 50 million 2006: 12 million 2005: 5 million 2004: 1 million
-
@carnage4life
Dare Obasanjo
on x
People think Facebook's news feed changes are about fake news when in reality they're about slowing user growth and declining user engagement. According to Comscore, time spent on the site is declining which seems like a first. http://www.bloomberg.com/...
-
@kurtwagner8
Kurt Wagner
on x
One other interesting bit from Facebook's Q4 earnings: Facebook's daily active user count in the U.S. and Canada fell for the first time ever. Small decline, but in FB's most valuable market (by far). https://www.recode.net/...
-
@jandawson
Jan Dawson
on x
Netflix made $31.30 per US streaming subscriber in Q4. Facebook made $26.76 per US & Canada monthly active user in the same period. FB will likely eclipse Netflix revenue per US user sometime in the next year...
-
@cnbc
@cnbc
on x
Facebook made an average of $6.18 off each user in Q4, more than double three years ago - via @cnbctech http://cnb.cx/2ErxUri
-
@ranimolla
Rani Molla
on x
It's so crazy to think that Facebook made $9.27 in revenue from each of its 1.4 billion users this quarter. Snapchat makes just over a buck per person and it has way fewer users. http://www.recode.net/... http://twitter.com/...