Facebook close to 25pc share of online display ads market

9 Nov 2010

Popular social networking site Facebook.com led all online publishers in Q3 2010 with 297 billion display ad impressions, representing 23.1pc market share, according to a study of the US online advertising market by comScore.

Data from the comScore Ad Metrix online advertising intelligence service indicated that nearly 1.3 trillion display ads were delivered to US internet users during the third quarter, marking a 22pc increase versus year ago.

“The US online display advertising market exhibited considerable strength in the third quarter, with nearly 1.3 trillion ad impressions delivered,” said Jeff Hackett, comScore senior vice-president.

“Just one year ago we were still in the midst of an advertising recession, but several growth drivers have contributed to sustained improvements over the past few quarters.

“The ability to buy specific audiences is enabling a greater number of display ads to be delivered on target, display formats are improving at a rapid rate, and the quality of creative is getting better every day. As publishers prove the value of online display ad campaigns, digital should continue to carve out a bigger piece of the advertising pie,” said Hackett.

Facebook’s market share has increased 13.9 percentage points from 9.2pc in Q3 2009. Yahoo! Sites ranked second during the most recent quarter with 140 billion impressions (11.0pc), followed by Microsoft Sites with 64 billion impressions (5.0pc) and Fox Interactive Media with 48 billion impressions (3.8pc).

AT&T ranked as the top online display advertiser in Q3 with 21.1 billion impressions, accounting for 1.6pc of display ads. Scottrade ranked second with 14.9 billion impressions (1.2pc), followed by Verizon with 14.6 billion impressions (1.1pc).

The top advertisers in Q3 by estimated online display spending market share were: Scottrade (1.9pc), AT&T (1.7pc), Experian (1.2pc), Verizon (1.1pc) and Progressive (1.0pc). Rounding out the top 10 were: Netflix (1.0pc), GM (0.8pc), Walt Disney (0.8pc), Toyota (0.7pc), and Procter & Gamble (0.6pc).

The average US internet user was delivered more than 6,000 display ads over the course of the quarter.

Some 109 different advertisers delivered at least 1 billion display ad impressions during the quarter, up from 76 last year.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com