Facebook to take biggest US display ad market share in 2011


1 Mar 2011

Facebook is set to overtake Yahoo to take the largest revenue share of the US online display advertising market this year, according to estimates from eMarketer.

The digital research company said Facebook’s share of the US display ad market, which will be worth US$10.1bn this year, will grow to 21.6pc, up from a 13.6pc share in 2010 and a 7.3pc share in 2009. Facebook’s display ad revenues are expected to amount to US$2.19bn in 2010 and US$2.87m in 2011.

Display revenues at Yahoo, meanwhile, are expected to grow 16pc to US$1.65bn in 2011, after the company saw 13.1pc growth in display in 2010. Yahoo’s share of overall display revenues is expected to increase to 16.4pc this year, after three straight years of losing market share.

Google’s share of the market has grown from 3.6pc in 2009 to 9.6pc last year and is set to reach 12.6pc in 2011. eMarketer is predicting that Google will also overtake Yahoo next year to have a 16.7pc share of US online display revenue. eMarketer estimates the company will bring in US$1.28bn in US online display ad revenues in 2011, up 49.2pc from US$855m in display revenues in 2010.

Display revenues at AOL will continue to fall, eMarketer estimates. The company is expected to earn just US$443m in US online display revenues in 2011, down 6.3pc from last year. However, growth rates for AOL’s display business are expected to be positive in 2012, after four straight years of decline.

“What’s striking is how even as Yahoo’s US display ad revenues will deliver double-digit gains each year from 2010 through 2012, not only will display revenues at Facebook surpass Yahoo this year, Google’s revenues will exceed Yahoo next year,” said David Hallerman, principal analyst at eMarketer. “What that leap-frogging trend confirms is the great and growing demand among brand marketers for online display ad placements.”

Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com