Tag: Facebook

Dentsu, Facebook: the problem with digital advertising

MUMBAI: The advertising industry just got a hit in an area where it hurts: right in the solar plexus. Last week, Japanese ad agency Dentsu which accounts for a lion’s share of advertising in Japan, admitted that it had overcharged (read: “fleeced”) digital clients to the tune of Yen 230 million between November 2012 and to date. Now, if that sounds like a lot of money it is only $2.3 million or about Rs 14-15 crore. The agency management discovered more than 633 suspicious transactions with 111 advertisers being impacted. Around 14 advertisers were charged but the ads were not placed on the internet at all.

Dentsu has been expanding globally and it acquired the Aegis Network in 2012 at a cost of $5 billion and today around 50 per cent of its advertising comes from global operations. In India, it is led by Asish Bhasin with a clutch of agencies below its umbrella. Bhasin has been charting aggressive growth for the Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) and has been shopping around for growth opportunities through acquisition. His latest buy was mega PR firm Perfect Relations.

Coming back to the fudging of bills by Dentsu, its president and CEO Tadashi Ishii has clarified that it is restricted only to Japan. Said he in a press release issued earlier this week: “In relation to a part of our digital advertising services for advertisers (including performance-based digital advertising services) provided by our company and some of our group companies in Japan, it has been found that there were multiple incidents where services were provided inappropriately. Types of irregularities involving inappropriate operations which we have detected to date include discrepancies in advertising placement periods either made consciously or by human error, failure of placement, and false reporting regarding performance results or achievements. Additionally, it has been detected that there were incidents where our invoices did not reflect actual results, resulting in unjust overcharged billing.”

He went on to add the agency was taking the matter very seriously and corrective measures are being taken to prevent a recurrence. “As an interim measure, in order to ensure that human errors or inappropriate operations in digital advertising will be prevented and detected, in early September we transferred operations to verify the specifics of advertising placements, publications and billing to a separate section which is independent from the section previously responsible for such operations, and we have endeavored to strengthen our business system for such verifying operations.”

“Our company is determined to clarify the causes leading to the inapropriate operations and to establish further requisite measures for resolving the situations and fundamental preventive measures, and to implement such steps faithfully and steadily in order to restore confidence in our company. Following the taking of such steps, we plan to report the progress of our efforts to our clients and business partners including advertisers, related associations and organizations and all other stakeholders. At this stage, we are aiming at doing so by the end of this year.”

He went to sincerely apologies to Dentsu clients and shareholders “from the bottom of our hearts for causing concern and trouble. At this moment, we do not believe that our business results would be materially affected. However, if we find any new matter which would materially affect our business results in the future, we will disclose such new matter promptly, as soon as it comes to our attention.”

In April, Dentsu had consolidated its digital business under a new offshoot called Dentsu Digital Inc in a bid to increase its hold internet advertising, which was not its strong area in the land of the rising sun.

Dentsu in India has been pushing aggressively in digital and around 30 per cent of its revenues come from online advertising. In the urge to grow could some wrong doing have happened in India too? These are questions Bhasin and DAN will have to address. Nonetheless sources say that the India office did meet some of its Japanese clients over the past two days to allay any concerns.

Be that as it may, this is not the only instance where the advertising industry has got its face muddied in the past week. Facebook, the word’s largest social network, too issued an apology on Friday saying that it had overstated on its video viewership metrics, that it had been giving marketers an inflated number for the average time being spent viewing online clips.

Facebook admitted that it had been boosting its average viewing time by only counting videos as viewed if it had been seen for more than three second. It had excluded from its calculations videos not viewed or those which had a view time of less than three seconds.

The two instances above indicate the high-pressured advertising industry’s urge to surge and its excesses. No doubt, it will dent the ad industry’s image where it hurts the most: the area of trust. As it is, consumers are tending to have a sense of disbelief about the claims advertisers are making in advertising, online and in TVCs. There’s very limited monitoring of online advertising and the claims made online, compared to the volume of advertising that’s out there on the internet. And that is a cause for worry. With users shifting to consuming a lot more news, videos online and on mobile devices, the cases of inappropriate, false claims ads will only rise.

It’s over to the ad industry to find some solutions.

September 24, 2016
Rathore urges govt. officials to aggressively use social media

NEW DELHI: Taking a cue from Prime Minister Modi’s effective use of social media, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (MIB) Rajyavardhan Rathore’s message to his officials is use social media aggressively for disseminating information on government.

“We need to open up. Typically, governments have been with iron curtains all around. But today time is changing, so we first need to change our mindset,” A PTI report quoted Rathore as saying today.

The junior MIB minister was inaugurating a workshop for government officials in Press Information Bureau (PIB) on how to use Facebook more effectively for communication.

PIB is the public relations division of the government and its official under a director-general are entrusted with disseminating information on government initiatives.

Addressing PIB officials, the PTI report states, Rathore advised that the process of how information is shared from decision makers to disseminators needs to get faster and social media can play a key role as it not only shapes debates on TV but also public opinion.

According to the minister, “You cannot hide information in today’s world. You have to share that information. The idea is to send the right kind of content that people can engage with.”

Pointing out that often incorrect information regarding ministries and government departments goes on social media, Rathore advised that on such occasions the correct facts should be provided.

“That is the time you could get to the social media and correct that information. People are hungry for information,” Rathore is said to have opined as per the PTI report.

The minister compared old and present times regarding communications. He said had it been older times pigeons would have to used for communicating and the head of PIB would have had maximum number of pigeons, hinting at the amount of communication that a government undertakes as part of its outreach programme.

A lot of people dismiss social media, saying the debate going on there is “junk”, he said but emphasised that this very debate shapes what is reported on television and in the print media.

“It is shaping your mind when you sit on the dining table during dinner time and do your discussions,” he is quoted as having said.

The minister pointed out that 85 per cent of federal ministers were on Facebook and 80 per cent ministries already have verified FB accounts.

Referring to PM Modi’s love for technology and effective use of social media, Rathore says the “coach has shown the way and it is now for the athelets to act.”

Interestingly when Rathore was questioned on Twitter for this government support to a private enterprise (Facebook) as being strange, the minister tweeted back saying: “Yes, but all communication tools, public/ private need to be utilised for empowering & enhancing outreach.”

Facebook executives were present on the occasion.

August 19, 2016
Rathore urges govt. officials to aggressively use social media

NEW DELHI: Taking a cue from Prime Minister Modi’s effective use of social media, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (MIB) Rajyavardhan Rathore’s message to his officials is use social media aggressively for disseminating information on government.

“We need to open up. Typically, governments have been with iron curtains all around. But today time is changing, so we first need to change our mindset,” A PTI report quoted Rathore as saying today.

The junior MIB minister was inaugurating a workshop for government officials in Press Information Bureau (PIB) on how to use Facebook more effectively for communication.

PIB is the public relations division of the government and its official under a director-general are entrusted with disseminating information on government initiatives.

Addressing PIB officials, the PTI report states, Rathore advised that the process of how information is shared from decision makers to disseminators needs to get faster and social media can play a key role as it not only shapes debates on TV but also public opinion.

According to the minister, “You cannot hide information in today’s world. You have to share that information. The idea is to send the right kind of content that people can engage with.”

Pointing out that often incorrect information regarding ministries and government departments goes on social media, Rathore advised that on such occasions the correct facts should be provided.

“That is the time you could get to the social media and correct that information. People are hungry for information,” Rathore is said to have opined as per the PTI report.

The minister compared old and present times regarding communications. He said had it been older times pigeons would have to used for communicating and the head of PIB would have had maximum number of pigeons, hinting at the amount of communication that a government undertakes as part of its outreach programme.

A lot of people dismiss social media, saying the debate going on there is “junk”, he said but emphasised that this very debate shapes what is reported on television and in the print media.

“It is shaping your mind when you sit on the dining table during dinner time and do your discussions,” he is quoted as having said.

The minister pointed out that 85 per cent of federal ministers were on Facebook and 80 per cent ministries already have verified FB accounts.

Referring to PM Modi’s love for technology and effective use of social media, Rathore says the “coach has shown the way and it is now for the athelets to act.”

Interestingly when Rathore was questioned on Twitter for this government support to a private enterprise (Facebook) as being strange, the minister tweeted back saying: “Yes, but all communication tools, public/ private need to be utilised for empowering & enhancing outreach.”

Facebook executives were present on the occasion.

August 19, 2016
Saluting TV technicians, the Beyond Dreams way

MUMBAI: As an audience, whenever we watch a film or a TV show we only know and remember the faces of our heroes and heroines. Even the national anthem videos which play in the multiplexes before a film starts feature the stars – film or TV or musicians or singers.

We promptly forget and hardly acknowledge the professionals who work behind the camera. These are the names that appear in the end of the film or the show in the credits. We simply switch the channel or walk out the theatre, without paying heed to any of them as they roll down.

Breaking the stereotype formula of only highlighting the stars on screen, TV production house Beyond Dreams Entertainment’s Yash Patnaik has featured those behind the scenes in a video of the national anthem, that was released on social media websites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter on Independence Day.

TV crew such as make up artists and hair designers, writers, set designers, spot boys, lighting boys, helpers – pop up in the video singing a word or a line of the national anthem.

Says Yash: “Whenever events like Independence Day, Diwali or Holi come, we always zoom in on the on-screen talent or directors or producers, and they are given greater respect. But behind the recognition and success we get are the large crews that work with us and support all our productions. Whenever I visit my set, the affection and love I received from my unit is tremendous. Therefore, we thought of doing the video featuring them and let them feel special on the special day. “

The national anthem video cost Patnaik – who has three shows (Jaana Na Dil Se Door, Naagarjuna and Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi) under his belt currently – Rs 3 to 4 lakh to produce. Thanks to the three units that are working on the three shows, Patnaik had access to the 150 crew to participate in the video. Despite that however he states that it was not that easy to make the film.

“They were not ready to face the camera,” he reveals. “as they are very uncomfortable in front of it. But they came forward after some persuasion and we shot it over four to five days.”

Even good names from Bollywood stepped forward to lend their support to his effort. Bollywood actor Ali Faisal came forward and gave the voice over at the beginning of the video, with lyricist Abhishek Kumar writing the lines and Udbhav Ojha composing the music for the national anthem.

The video was released on Facebook and YouTube and simultaneously a social media push was given. The hashtag #GoBeyond was used to promote it on social networking sites. On Twitter, the hashtag #GoBeyond was at the No 1 spot in India and in the world it was on number 20. The reach was 1.5 million and the video generated 165,000 views. More than that it got a lot of plaudits from fellow and rival producers, industry stalwarts. The video trended at the number three position in Australia

Patnaik says another video has been produced with TV stars paying tribute to the behind the scenes technicians.

Yash says he is quite enthused by digital and short productions and hopes to launch a digital platform by the end of 2016.

“Digital gives you an opportunity to say what you feel and we should all say something which make sense,” says Yash. “You should speak in a voice and that voice should make some difference in the society and we will not shy away from telling the world what we believe in. And this video is first step in that initiative.”

August 19, 2016
Saluting TV technicians, the Beyond Dreams way

MUMBAI: As an audience, whenever we watch a film or a TV show we only know and remember the faces of our heroes and heroines. Even the national anthem videos which play in the multiplexes before a film starts feature the stars – film or TV or musicians or singers.

We promptly forget and hardly acknowledge the professionals who work behind the camera. These are the names that appear in the end of the film or the show in the credits. We simply switch the channel or walk out the theatre, without paying heed to any of them as they roll down.

Breaking the stereotype formula of only highlighting the stars on screen, TV production house Beyond Dreams Entertainment’s Yash Patnaik has featured those behind the scenes in a video of the national anthem, that was released on social media websites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter on Independence Day.

TV crew such as make up artists and hair designers, writers, set designers, spot boys, lighting boys, helpers – pop up in the video singing a word or a line of the national anthem.

Says Yash: “Whenever events like Independence Day, Diwali or Holi come, we always zoom in on the on-screen talent or directors or producers, and they are given greater respect. But behind the recognition and success we get are the large crews that work with us and support all our productions. Whenever I visit my set, the affection and love I received from my unit is tremendous. Therefore, we thought of doing the video featuring them and let them feel special on the special day. “

The national anthem video cost Patnaik – who has three shows (Jaana Na Dil Se Door, Naagarjuna and Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi) under his belt currently – Rs 3 to 4 lakh to produce. Thanks to the three units that are working on the three shows, Patnaik had access to the 150 crew to participate in the video. Despite that however he states that it was not that easy to make the film.

“They were not ready to face the camera,” he reveals. “as they are very uncomfortable in front of it. But they came forward after some persuasion and we shot it over four to five days.”

Even good names from Bollywood stepped forward to lend their support to his effort. Bollywood actor Ali Faisal came forward and gave the voice over at the beginning of the video, with lyricist Abhishek Kumar writing the lines and Udbhav Ojha composing the music for the national anthem.

The video was released on Facebook and YouTube and simultaneously a social media push was given. The hashtag #GoBeyond was used to promote it on social networking sites. On Twitter, the hashtag #GoBeyond was at the No 1 spot in India and in the world it was on number 20. The reach was 1.5 million and the video generated 165,000 views. More than that it got a lot of plaudits from fellow and rival producers, industry stalwarts. The video trended at the number three position in Australia

Patnaik says another video has been produced with TV stars paying tribute to the behind the scenes technicians.

Yash says he is quite enthused by digital and short productions and hopes to launch a digital platform by the end of 2016.

“Digital gives you an opportunity to say what you feel and we should all say something which make sense,” says Yash. “You should speak in a voice and that voice should make some difference in the society and we will not shy away from telling the world what we believe in. And this video is first step in that initiative.”

August 19, 2016
Apollo Munich launches interactive online game ‘Kill the Killer’

MUMBAI: Swatting mosquitoes is a chore for anyone, especially during the monsoon season, but Apollo Munich Health Insurance makes it fun with an interactive online game – Kill the Killer, combined with a public interest message.

Kill the Killer game is an innovative customer engagement tool that aims to educate people – “Not all mosquitos can be killed, one needs to stay completely covered rather than just merely using devices to banish them.” Kill the Killer game can be played on Apollo Munich’s homepage (www.apollomunichinsurance.com)anytime, anywhere and as many times as you would like to. All you need to do is swat as many mosquitoes as you can in 20 seconds and check your score thereafter. You can share your score on Facebook and Twitter, and you can even invite your friends to play it.

Speaking about the idea behind the game, Apollo Munich CEO Antony Jacob said, “Gamification has undoubtedly become a very strong communication tool and the whole world talking about Pokémon Go corroborates it. The Internet offers a world of activities that people can indulge in and through this gamification means, we are hoping to raise awareness for dengue, educate consumers about the disease, and thereby infuse an interest in people to banish dengue fear from their lives. At Apollo Munich, we have always focused on innovation and this time around we are moving innovation from products to customer engagement.”

The much awaited monsoon season in India not only brings respite to the summer and farmlands, but it also brings with it a slew of healthcare frights, as stagnant water provides breeding grounds for many infection borne mosquitos. Dengue, leptospirosis, malaria, etc. all arrive within a month of the rains. Although these diseases can be treated, dengue has become the largest vector borne disease and sometimes proves fatal, if left untreated.

“Around 35% of the dengue cases in the world occur in India, and there were approximately a lakh cases reported in India in 2015. Apollo Munich’s Dengue Care, India’s first over the counter health insurance policy provides Indians with financial support in battling the dreaded dengue disease, with no underwriting. Available at a very affordable premium of Rs.1.2 per day, Dengue Care has found immense favour with people across the country who want to reduce the burden of medical expenses for themselves and their loved ones, especially during the monsoon season.”, he added.

Known for its innovative products, Apollo Munich has been active in its social media initiatives and with gamification, the company is taking its customer engagement initiatives to the next level. People can share the game through social media and hence effect a larger understanding amongst the population. The company is embracing the online medium to further uncomplicate insurance and make it easy to understand for people. Moreover, such initiatives also help solve purchase related concerns and complete the purchase, as well as the renewal processes.

August 17, 2016
Apollo Munich launches interactive online game ‘Kill the Killer’

MUMBAI: Swatting mosquitoes is a chore for anyone, especially during the monsoon season, but Apollo Munich Health Insurance makes it fun with an interactive online game – Kill the Killer, combined with a public interest message.

Kill the Killer game is an innovative customer engagement tool that aims to educate people – “Not all mosquitos can be killed, one needs to stay completely covered rather than just merely using devices to banish them.” Kill the Killer game can be played on Apollo Munich’s homepage (www.apollomunichinsurance.com)anytime, anywhere and as many times as you would like to. All you need to do is swat as many mosquitoes as you can in 20 seconds and check your score thereafter. You can share your score on Facebook and Twitter, and you can even invite your friends to play it.

Speaking about the idea behind the game, Apollo Munich CEO Antony Jacob said, “Gamification has undoubtedly become a very strong communication tool and the whole world talking about Pokémon Go corroborates it. The Internet offers a world of activities that people can indulge in and through this gamification means, we are hoping to raise awareness for dengue, educate consumers about the disease, and thereby infuse an interest in people to banish dengue fear from their lives. At Apollo Munich, we have always focused on innovation and this time around we are moving innovation from products to customer engagement.”

The much awaited monsoon season in India not only brings respite to the summer and farmlands, but it also brings with it a slew of healthcare frights, as stagnant water provides breeding grounds for many infection borne mosquitos. Dengue, leptospirosis, malaria, etc. all arrive within a month of the rains. Although these diseases can be treated, dengue has become the largest vector borne disease and sometimes proves fatal, if left untreated.

“Around 35% of the dengue cases in the world occur in India, and there were approximately a lakh cases reported in India in 2015. Apollo Munich’s Dengue Care, India’s first over the counter health insurance policy provides Indians with financial support in battling the dreaded dengue disease, with no underwriting. Available at a very affordable premium of Rs.1.2 per day, Dengue Care has found immense favour with people across the country who want to reduce the burden of medical expenses for themselves and their loved ones, especially during the monsoon season.”, he added.

Known for its innovative products, Apollo Munich has been active in its social media initiatives and with gamification, the company is taking its customer engagement initiatives to the next level. People can share the game through social media and hence effect a larger understanding amongst the population. The company is embracing the online medium to further uncomplicate insurance and make it easy to understand for people. Moreover, such initiatives also help solve purchase related concerns and complete the purchase, as well as the renewal processes.

August 17, 2016
Rajshri partners Bajaj for Youtube cookery show

MUMBAI: For long it had been said that digital content pioneer Rajshri Entertainment was getting its mammoth YouTube views courtesy its Bollywood catalogue. That was because of the million plus subscribers it had on the mother channel Rajshri featuring Bollywood content. However, the founder, the late Rajjat Barjatya had worked hard to correct it by launching a slew of channels right from Rajshri Soul to Rajshri Food to Get Curried to channels in languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati.

Most of these had started getting traction: Rajshri Food has a subscriber base of almost 500,000, Get Curried 70,000, Rajshri Soul 64,000, Peekaboo Kids, 48,000 and Mind Body and Soul 59,000.

The growth in its subscriber base and views in the non-Bollywood zone has encouraged it to launch its first brand integrated food show – Ruchi Unboxes with Bajaj on Rajshri Food, which offers only vegetarian recipes. Ruchi Bharani, the host of the show, is one of the channel’s flagship chefs and will be appearing in five episodes between 1 August and 29 August with each episode being of six to seven minutes duration.

Within two days of its launch, the first episode which focused on the scrumptious Lebanese Falafel wrap, had managed to generate close to 100,000 views. The series has been shot in Ruchi’s home with a crew of five to seven over two weeks with Rajshri content head Kavya Krishnaswamy helming it.

The standout of the series is the brand integration the Rajshri team has managed for Bajaj. Throughout the show, Ruchi works in a Bajaj kitchen with Bajaj appliances helping make her life easier as she cooks. And at the end of the show viewers can get Bajaj giveaways and hampers delivered to their homes if they answer the chef’s quiz question right. The contest is being run on Rajshri’s facebook page too.

Rajshri Entertainment General Manager – Content Alliances Inderpal Singh Jaggi, says the Bajaj association is just a start. “We are looking at more and more brand integrations and not just with Rajshri Foods but with our other channels too,” he says.

“Brand integration works in a two way benefit. It helps fund our content while we give the brand a wider and different audience,” he points out. “We have received an overwhelming response from brands as well, considering the reach of our platform” informs Inderpal.

On the promotion front, Inderpal and team have lined up a social media marketing plan which includes ads on Facebook and Youtube. Hopefully it will cook up a storm for Ruchi Unboxes with Bajaj.

August 3, 2016
Rajshri partners Bajaj for Youtube cookery show

MUMBAI: For long it had been said that digital content pioneer Rajshri Entertainment was getting its mammoth YouTube views courtesy its Bollywood catalogue. That was because of the million plus subscribers it had on the mother channel Rajshri featuring Bollywood content. However, the founder, the late Rajjat Barjatya had worked hard to correct it by launching a slew of channels right from Rajshri Soul to Rajshri Food to Get Curried to channels in languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati.

Most of these had started getting traction: Rajshri Food has a subscriber base of almost 500,000, Get Curried 70,000, Rajshri Soul 64,000, Peekaboo Kids, 48,000 and Mind Body and Soul 59,000.

The growth in its subscriber base and views in the non-Bollywood zone has encouraged it to launch its first brand integrated food show – Ruchi Unboxes with Bajaj on Rajshri Food, which offers only vegetarian recipes. Ruchi Bharani, the host of the show, is one of the channel’s flagship chefs and will be appearing in five episodes between 1 August and 29 August with each episode being of six to seven minutes duration.

Within two days of its launch, the first episode which focused on the scrumptious Lebanese Falafel wrap, had managed to generate close to 100,000 views. The series has been shot in Ruchi’s home with a crew of five to seven over two weeks with Rajshri content head Kavya Krishnaswamy helming it.

The standout of the series is the brand integration the Rajshri team has managed for Bajaj. Throughout the show, Ruchi works in a Bajaj kitchen with Bajaj appliances helping make her life easier as she cooks. And at the end of the show viewers can get Bajaj giveaways and hampers delivered to their homes if they answer the chef’s quiz question right. The contest is being run on Rajshri’s facebook page too.

Rajshri Entertainment General Manager – Content Alliances Inderpal Singh Jaggi, says the Bajaj association is just a start. “We are looking at more and more brand integrations and not just with Rajshri Foods but with our other channels too,” he says.

“Brand integration works in a two way benefit. It helps fund our content while we give the brand a wider and different audience,” he points out. “We have received an overwhelming response from brands as well, considering the reach of our platform” informs Inderpal.

On the promotion front, Inderpal and team have lined up a social media marketing plan which includes ads on Facebook and Youtube. Hopefully it will cook up a storm for Ruchi Unboxes with Bajaj.

August 3, 2016
Q2-16: Facebook ad revenue up 63percent, income triples

BENGALURU: Facebook Inc., (Facebook) advertisement revenue increased 63percent year-on year (Y-o-y) for the second quarter ended 30 June 2016 (Q2-16, current quarter) at $6,239 million as compared to $3,827 million in Q2-15. Advertisement revenue growth in percentage terms was led by the US and Canada (68.5percent growth) and the A-Pac (66.8percent growth) regions. Ad revenue share by geography in Q2-16 was: US and Canada –49.3 percent; Europe – 24.8percent; A-Pac – 16.2 percent, and the rest of the world (ROW) – 9.7percent.

Facebook reported 59.2 percent growth in total revenue at $6,436 million as compared to $4,042 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.The social media giant’s net income in Q2-16 almost tripled (by 2.86 times) year-on-year (y-o-y) to $2,055 million, as compared to $719 million in Q2-15.

Growth in revenue in percentage terms was also led by growth from the US and Canada (63.3percenty-o-y growth) and the A-Pac (64.5percenty-o-y growth) geographical regions. A major share of Facebook’s revenue (49.9 percent) came from the US and Canada region, while the A-Pac regioncontributed 15.9percentto revenue in Q2-16. Europe’s contribution to Facebook revenue was 24.6percent and ROW contributed 9.5percent during the same period.

“Our community and business had another good quarter,” said Facebook founder and CEOMark Zuckerberg. “We’re particularly pleased with our progress in video as we move towards a world where video is at the heart of all our services.”

Please refer to Fig 1 for Facebook’s revenue and Fig 2 for Facebook’s advertisement revenue breakup by geography below.

It is evident from Fig 2 below that the share of revenue from US and Canada, and A-Pac regions has been increasing, while share of revenue from Europe and ROW has been declining, though in Q2-16, revenue share from the ROW has shown a slight resurgence.

Facebook’s daily average users (DAU) increased 16.5 percenty-o-yin the current quarter to 1,128 million as compared to 968 million in Q2-15. For the current quarter,A-Pac (21.4percenty-o-ygrowth) and the ROW (21.6percenty-o-ygrowth) regions lead DAU growth in percentage terms. In Q2-16 DAU from US and Canada grew by 6.7percenty-o-y, while Europe DAU grew 10.5 percenty-o-y. Please refer to Fig 3 below.

The proportion of people logging on to Facebook on their mobiles has grown to 91.6percent in the current quarter as compared to 87.2percent in Q2-15 and 90.7percent in the immediate trailing quarter (Q1-16).

The curve B in Fig 3 below signifies the ratio of DAUs’ to Monthly Average Users (MAU), while curve A indicates the percentage of Mobile DAUs’ to DAUs’. Mobile DAU’s in Q2-16 have increased 22.4percenty-o-y to 1,033 million as compared to 844 million in Q2-15.

ARPU

Facebook’s worldwide average revenue per user (ARPU) in the current quarter was $3.82 as compared to $2.76in Q2-15 and $3.32 in Q1-16. The US and Canada regions lead in terms of ARPU by far. ARPU for the US and Canada region was $14.34 in the current quarter. Corresponding numbers for other regions for Q2-16 were Europe $4.72; A-Pac $1.77; ROW $1.13.

July 28, 2016