Facebook posts 17% jump in ad revenue for Q1 2020 compared to same quarter last yr

Facebook has recorded total revenue of $17,737 million for for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, compared to $15,077 million in the same quarter last year, thus posting an 18% growth.

Its total advertising revenue stands at $17,440 million for the first quarter compared to $14,912 million, a 17% jump compared to the same quarter last year. “After the initial steep decrease in advertising revenue in March, we have seen signs of stability reflected in the first three weeks of April, where advertising revenue has been approximately at compared to the same period a year ago, down from the 17% year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2020,” says the financial statement.

The social networking giant has posted 1.73 billion on average daily active users (DAUs) for March 2020, an increase of 11% year-over-year. The monthly active users (MAUs) were 2.60 billion as of March 31, 2020, an increase of 10% year-over-year.

"Our work has always been about helping you stay connected with the people you care about," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder and CEO. "With people relying on our services more than ever, we're focused on keeping people safe, informed and connected."

With regards to the impact of COVID-19 on the business outlook Facebook has said in its financial report: “Our business has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and, like all companies, we are facing a period of unprecedented uncertainty in our business outlook. We expect our business performance will be impacted by issues beyond our control, including the duration and efficacy of shelter-in-place orders, the effectiveness of economic stimuli around the world, and the fluctuations of currencies relative to the US dollar.”

Further in terms of revenue, FB has said: “We experienced a significant reduction in the demand for advertising, as well as a related decline in the pricing of our ads, over the last three weeks of the first quarter of 2020. Due to the increasing uncertainty in our business outlook, we are not providing specific revenue guidance for the second quarter or full-year 2020, but rather a snapshot on revenue performance in the second quarter thus far. After the initial steep decrease in advertising revenue in March, we have seen signs of stability reflected in the first three weeks of April, where advertising revenue has been approximately at compared to the same period a year ago, down from the 17% year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2020. The April trends reflect weakness across all of our user geographies as most of our major countries have had some sort of shelter-in-place guidelines in effect.”

Regarding the total expenses, the company has highlighted going for savings in certain areas such as travel, events, and marketing as well as from slower headcount growth in our business functions. “However, we plan to continue to invest in product development and to recruit technical talent. In addition, we have committed over $300 million to date in investments to help our broader community during the crisis, which will have an impact on our financial performance this year. As a result, we expect total expenses in 2020 to be between $52-56 billion, down from the prior range of $54-59 billion. While this reflects a moderate reduction in the planned growth rate of total expenses, our overall expense growth in the face of expected revenue weakness will have a negative impact on 2020 operating margins.”