Facebook’s ads business hit by Covid-19 pandemic despite surge in usage
- Many of Facebook’s products, including Messenger and WhatsApp, have seen a spike in traffic as people stay home in regions hit hardest by the virus
- But the services that are booming in popularity during the outbreak are not apps or products where Facebook has robust ad businesses
“Our business is being adversely affected like so many others,” the world’s largest social network wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
Many of Facebook’s products, including messaging and voice calls through Messenger and WhatsApp, have seen a dramatic increase in traffic as people stay home or remain isolated from friends, family and colleagues.
Messaging has jumped more than 50 per cent “in many of the countries hit hardest by the virus,” Facebook said, adding that voice calls in those regions have more than doubled. In Italy, where the coronavirus has claimed more deaths than any other country, time spent on Facebook products has soared by 70 per cent.
Still, those increases are not going to translate into more advertising dollars. The services that are booming in popularity during the outbreak are not apps or products where Facebook has robust ad businesses, meaning the company isn’t seeing a boost in sales from the surge in use. The company gets more than 98 per cent of its revenue from advertising.
“We don’t monetise many of the services where we’re seeing increased engagement, and we’ve seen a weakening in our ads business in countries taking aggressive actions to reduce the spread of Covid-19,” Facebook wrote.
