Twitter Income Rises 28% as Advert Spending Rebounds

Twitter said Tuesday that its revenue for the fourth quarter of last year was $ 1.29 billion, up 28 percent year over year and slightly above Wall Street’s expectations. Income for the quarter was $ 222 million, supported by a turnaround in revenue after a sharp drop in ad spend in early 2020.

The company lost $ 1.14 billion for the year, but the improvement in the fourth quarter showed that Twitter has largely recovered from the decline in advertising revenue in the early days of the pandemic.

Although advertisers have returned to Twitter and ad revenue has increased, investors have feared that Twitter’s advertising capabilities are not keeping up with its competitors on social media like Facebook and Snap.

Twitter’s daily active users who saw ads rose 26 percent to 192 million in the fourth quarter, a million less than analysts expected.

Twitter said it had improved its so-called direct response advertising products, and on Monday the company unveiled several revamped advertising products. However, it could pose another hurdle if Apple unveils a new version of its mobile operating system this year that includes privacy changes that could limit the way advertisers track consumers.

“I’m assuming Twitter needs to address the elephant in the room: Apple’s iOS 14 update and how that affects ad targeting,” said Jessica Liu, senior analyst at Forrester.

Twitter may also have questions about its decision to remove former President Donald J. Trump from the platform in January. Mr Trump was one of the most prominent users of Twitter and attracted a large audience. Some analysts wondered if its absence would result in a drop in users. But Twitter said daily active users increased in January.

“2020 was an exceptional year for Twitter,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, in a statement. “We are more proud than ever to serve the public conversation, especially in these unprecedented times.”

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