MUMBAI: Boosted by solid growth in usage and advertising spend across major social networks, the global social network market continued to show strong growth in 2014, as per Strategy Analytics Global Social Network Forecast. Globally, social networks surpassed two billion users for the first time in 2014, of which Facebook accounted for 68 per cent.
Ad spend on social networks grew a robust 41 per cent globally in 2014 totaling over $15.3 billion, accounting for 11 per cent of global digital ad spend. Facebook accounted for three-quarters of global social network ad spend in 2014, while Twitter accounted for eight per cent. In 2015, ad spend on social networks is expected to grow by 29 per cent, totaling $24.2 billion.
"Overall, the social network market continues to show strong growth across all regions as the major social network platforms drive usage and engagement via improved integration of digital media content. While Facebook currently dominates the global social network market, its absence in China allows local social networks such as QZone and Tencent Weibo to gain traction in the rapidly expanding Chinese digital advertising market," said Leika Kawasaki, author of the report.
Other key findings from the report include:
1) Nearly half (46 per cent) of social network users reside in the Asia Pacific region.
2) China accounts for almost 25 per cent of global social network users with 495 million users in 2014.
3) North America had the highest ratio of social network users to its population (64 per cent) in 2014, followed by Western Europe at 55 per cent.
4) The US accounts for the largest share of global social network ad spend (41 per cent), totaling $6.2 billion in 2014, up 35 per cent YoY.
5) The UK is the second largest market for social network ad spends, accounting for 8.2 per cent of global social network ad spends in 2014, just edging out China (8 per cent).
6) The US had the highest social network ad spend per social network user at $31.37 in 2014. This is expected to grow 27 per cent to $39.84 in 2015.
