Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Facebook is testing a lot more ads in a lot more places

The company needs to prove News Feed isn’t its only cash cow.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook

Three months ago, Facebook delivered some somber news to investors: The company’s revenue growth, which routinely surpassed analysts’ lofty expectations, was expected to slow “meaningfully” in the near future.

The problem, Facebook said at the time, is that the company is running out of places to stuff ads inside News Feed, its core moneymaker.

So Facebook started looking elsewhere, and when the company announces its Q4 and full-year earnings to investors Wednesday afternoon, you can bet you’ll hear about all of the tests Facebook is running to keep growth steady.

In just the past month, Facebook announced a number of new ad formats and locations it has started to test or plans to test. Here’s a list:

The mid-roll video ads seem to be the biggest opportunity here given Facebook’s stockpile of video content and its hope for more high-quality, TV-style videos. Facebook has been after TV ad budgets for years, and mid-roll video ads may be the company’s best chance to capture them.

That doesn’t mean Facebook will say all of that Wednesday — it has never been very open about its TV aspirations — but it does seem likely that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg will want to reassure investors that Facebook has options outside of News Feed when it comes to revenue growth.

Given the growth expectations, analysts expect Facebook to deliver profits of $1.31 per share on revenue of $8.51 billion. That’s almost 46 percent growth over the same quarter last year; in Q3, Facebook growth was 55 percent year over year.

Facebook reports earnings after market close on Wednesday.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh