Twitter Inc.’s ad revenue jumped 128.9% year over year in the second quarter, but the social network is still in the red.
Twitter had a busy quarter. During the second quarter, the social network rolled out new advertising tools, including mobile app promotions, which encourage consumers to download marketers’ mobile apps, and web site cards, which let marketers showcase their web site content within a tweet and drive shoppers to a particular part of the advertiser’s site. It also closed its acquisition of social data vendor Gnip, which Twitter says will help companies better understand what consumers and other brands are saying on the social network. Twitter also entered into agreements to acquire several other vendors, including mobile retargeting firm TapCommerce.
Those moves aim to accelerate growth for Twitter, which increased its user base in the second quarter 24.3% over the same period a year earlier.
“We are already the world’s real-time information network and by giving everyone the best of Twitter, no matter where or how they consume our content, logged-in as unique visitors or in syndication we will position ourselves to reach the largest audience in the world and every person on the planet,” said Dick Costolo, Twitter’s CEO, today during a conference call with analysts.
For the second quarter ended June 30, Twitter reported:
- $277.0 million in ad revenue, up 128.9% from $121.0 million a year earlier.
- Ad revenue of $3.87 per 1,000 views from U.S. users, up 78.3% from $2.17 in 2013.
- Ad revenue of 75 cents per 1,000 views from international users, up 150.0% from 30 cents in 2013.
- $312.2 million in total revenue, up 124.1% from $139.3 million from the same period in 2013.
- Mobile advertising accounted for roughly 81% of advertising revenue, or roughly $224.4 million, up from about 80% in the first quarter.
- 271 million monthly active users, up 24.3% from 218 million in the same period a year earlier. The net gain of 16 million users over the course of the quarter was the largest gain by the social network in five quarters.
- 211 million consumers, 77.9% of Twitter’s monthly active users, accessed Twitter from a mobile device.
- $144.6 million net loss, up from a $42.2 million loss a year earlier.
For the first half of the year, Twitter reported:
- $496.7 million in ad revenue, up 125.3% from $220.5 million a year earlier.
- $562.7 million in total revenue, up 121.9% from $253.6 million.
- $277.0 million net loss, up from a $69.3 million loss a year earlier.
While Twitter is not yet profitable, the social network is still in the “early innings” of monetization, says Colin Sebastian, an analyst with R.W. Baird Equity Research.
“Recent upgrades in ad formats, such as app install ads and e-commerce, as well as the significant potential for a broader ad network should drive incremental monetization,” he says.
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