Twitter posts 41% rise in advertising revenue but lawsuit hits profits
Twitter has reported a 41% rise in advertising revenue in the third quarter, but saw net losses sink to US$537 million after settling a lawsuit with shareholders. In Q2 2021 the company reported total revenue of US$1.19 billion (A$1.61 billion), up 74% year-on-year.
The loss – which followed a payout of US$809 million amid accusations it deceived investors about how often people used its platform – compared to a profit of US$23 million in the same quarter last year.
The number of monetisable daily active users (mDAU) in the three months to September climbed 13% to 211 million.
Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said he was “proud” of the results.
“We’re improving personalisation, facilitating conversations, delivering relevant news and finding news ways to help people get paid on Twitter,” he said.
Total ad revenue hit US$1.14 billion, with ad engagements up 6% year-over-year, while overall revenue climbed 37% to US$1.28 billion.
Revenue generated in the US totalled US$742 million, up 45%, while international revenue outside of the US climbed 28% to US$542 million.
Twitter said the average daily users in the US increased from 36 million to 37 million year-over-year but remained unchanged from Q2. International users climbed to 174 million, compared to 152 million in the same period last year and 169 million in the previous quarter.
Finance chief Ned Segal said the business had performed well across all major products and geographies.
“We continued to drive increased value for our advertisers thanks to revenue product innovation, including progress on our brand and direct response offerings, strong sales execution, and a broad increase in advertiser demand,” he said. “These factors contributed to 41% year-over-year growth in ad revenue in Q3.”
The social platform said it expects revenue in the fourth quarter to total US$1.5 billion to US$1.6 billion.
