Social media giant Facebook released its Q1 financial report after the U.S. stock market closed yesterday. Both user numbers and advertising revenue growth exceeded expectations, leading to a post-market surge of 6% and hitting a historical high, pushing the market cap over 900 billion US dollars.
It is worth noting that Google also recently reported earnings that surpassed expectations and reached a new high. Besides the strength of the top performers, these two digital advertising giants once again demonstrated a clear pro-cyclical beta characteristic.
1. User growth exceeds expectations, with optimistic penetration space beyond Europe and North America.
As of the end of the first quarter, Facebook's monthly active users (MAU) reached 2.85 billion, a 10% year-on-year growth, slightly higher than the market's expected 2.83 billion. Regionally, Facebook's North American users remain stable, with the main growth coming from the Asia-Pacific and other regions, both increasing by 12.5% and 10% respectively.
Daily active users (DAU) reached 1.88 billion, up 8% year-on-year, slightly higher than the market's expected 1.87 billion; the ratio measuring activity, DAU/MAU, continues to stabilize at a level of 66%.
The Facebook family (including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp), Q1's Monthly Active People (MAP, same as MAU) reached 3.45 billion, up 15% year-on-year, with Daily Active People (DAP) reaching 2.72 billion, also up 15%.
Reflecting on Facebook's 10% user growth rate, it shows that products like Instagram, WhatsApp, among others, have better user growth than Facebook. With a user base of 3.45 billion, it already accounts for a significant portion of the global internet plus-related...