Twitter recently published their first quarter, 2014 results. While the company has struggled with their stock price initially, their declared revenues of $250 Million for the quarter may be a good sign. 80% of the revenue came from its mobile ads, which is not surprising. Perhaps the most significant area of growth for Twitter was their number of active users. They now report 255 million monthly active users, which is up by 25% over last year.
Of the 255 million active users, 198 million of them access the services from their smartphone or tablet. This is up 31% from last year, another great indicator that Twitter is primarily a mobile focused company. Due to the rapid growth of mobile ad spend throughout the industry, this is likely to be seen as a good thing by both Twitter management, and potential investors.
Dick Costolo, the CEO of Twitter, commented saying “We had a very strong first quarter. Revenue growth accelerated on a year over year basis fueled by increased engagement and user growth. We also continue to rapidly increase our reach and scale. With the integration of MoPub, we now reach more than 1 billion iOS and Android users each month, making us one of the largest in-app mobile ad exchanges in the world and the only one at scale to offer native in-app advertising.”
Of course, Facebook is likely to be joining them with a launch of their own in-app mobile network in the coming months. What affect this will have on the long term outlook for Twitter will be something to watch. Twitter seems confident, however, with a forward looking statement stating that they are estimating to end the year with revenue “in the range of $1,200 million to $1,250 million.”
For marketers, this growth should show that Twitter is a major player for all types of marketing. Whether using their ad space, or simply promoting a brand with a Twitter account, this is a tool that is growing in importance every month.
