VSe could be the 2021 figure. Almost a quarter of humans, 1.9 billion, logged into Facebook in March. In total, 3.45 billion people are regular users of the network and its Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram satellites. Long live the crisis! The group’s turnover jumped 48% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period of 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit America. And its profits jumped 94%.
Founded in 2004, the company now earns $ 26 billion each quarter for more than $ 9 billion in profits. And Google is doing even better, with net profit up 162% to $ 18 billion in the first three months of this year alone. The reason for this sudden explosion, which even the most enthusiastic analysts had not anticipated, can be summed up in one word: publicity.
The two companies generate most of their income from this activity. However, faced with the demand of companies lacking notoriety in a confined world, the two companies have increased the price of their advertisements – by 30% for Facebook. Enough to strengthen the supremacy of the duo which controls between half and two-thirds of the global digital advertising market.
Monster more powerful still
Enough to forget the daily hassles of Mark Zuckerberg, now accustomed to frequenting the hearing rooms of the Washington Congress or those of antitrust bodies around the world. His degraded image as a predator of the privacy of his billions of “friends” clearly did not hinder the race to the top of his company.
A new concern on the horizon, however, will force him to change his course. In front of him, an even more powerful monster has decided to make him pay for his success, built entirely on the quality of the information on its members that it monetizes to its advertising clients. Apple decided to ask users of its iPhones if they wanted to continue to be tracked by advertisers.
We can imagine their response. A major threat, the announced end of targeted advertising, which is now pushing Facebook and Google to urgently accelerate the diversification of their resources. To commerce for Facebook, to the cloud for Google. Two areas already well occupied by Amazon or Microsoft. The climax of 2021 ushers in times that promise to be more difficult.