ComScore: Facebook Does Drive Sales Both On and Offline
Facebook‘s (NASDAQ:FB) stock has been pounded since its IPO for its apparent inability to monetize mobile audience effectively and slowing ad revenue growth. The stock is trading nearly 30% below the levels when it went public. However, a new research by ComScore suggests that Facebook might offer a lot of value to advertisers and can actually drive sales and purchases. [1]
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According to the report, Facebook’s platform does drive purchase decisions offline, even if users don’t click on links and buy stuff online. Though it’s difficult to quantify, ComScore suggests that people who are fans of brands like Starbucks and Target are more likely to buy products than people who are not. It also indicates that exposing fans and users to brand messages on Facebook and creating additional engagement drives purchases.
However, the study was commissioned by Facebook and is suspiciously timed just when Facebook’s stock is near its post IPO low, following concerns about slow ad revenue growth. So, you might want to take this with a pinch of salt.
In any case, if the research results do turn out to be accurate, it could drive not only Facebook’s advertising business, but also its social commerce business, which is expected to take off in the coming years.
We currently have a $33 Trefis price estimate for Facebook, most of which is derived from its social text and display advertising business. It competes primarily with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Yahoo (NYSE:YHOO) in the online advertising space.
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