Ad Age Social Media Facts 2016

Worldwide ad revenue for social media networks is forecast to top $50 billion in 2018, with Facebook scoring two-thirds of the prize. But the percentage of teens who use Facebook has been declining.

What's up with social media? Ad Age Datacenter shows the state of the market in nine simple graphs.

U.S. social networks by unique visitors
Total unique visitors/viewers, in millions.
 
Source: ComScore (June 2016). More info: comscore.com. Numbers rounded. Unique visitors includes all desktop users age 2 and up and all mobile users ages 18 and up. Totals include app visits but exclude other owned properties. Unique visitors include users who visited the networks at least once in June 2016. While unique visits to LinkedIn are higher than others, user engagement is not. For context, LinkedIn has about one-third the average time spent per visitor as Twitter. Facebook owns Instagram. Microsoft Corp. in June 2016 signed deal to buy LinkedIn Corp. Verizon Communications in July 2016 signed deal to buy Yahoo operations including Tumblr.
 
Social media use for adults by age group
Percent reach, or percentage of digital audience in a given age group that used this social media property at least once in June 2016.
Total digital audience percent reach, 18+
 
Percent reach by age group
 
Source: ComScore (June 2016). More info: comscore.com. Percent reach for U.S. desktop users and mobile users. Microsoft Corp. in June 2016 signed deal to buy LinkedIn Corp. Facebook owns Instagram. Verizon Communications in July 2016 signed deal to buy Yahoo operations including Tumblr.
 
Teens and social media
Percent of teens who used…
 
Source: GfK MRI's Teenmark study. Percentage of U.S. internet users age 12-19 who visited these sites in that year. More info: gfk.com. Alphabet owns YouTube and Google+. Facebook owns Instagram. Verizon Communications in July 2016 signed deal to buy Yahoo operations including Tumblr.
 
U.S. social network ad revenue share by venue
Share of ad revenue by venue. Total ad revenue in dollar billions; percent change.
 
Facebook
 
Twitter
 
LinkedIn
 
Social games
 
Other
 
2014 total
$7.3 billion
(+56.8%)
 
2015 total
$10.8 billion
(+47.8%)
 
2016 total
$13.6 billion
(+25.9%)
 
2017 total
$16.5 billion
(+21.5%)
 
2018 total
$19.3 billion
(+16.7%)
Source: eMarketer (March 2016). More info: eMarketer.com. Numbers rounded. Microsoft Corp. in June 2016 signed deal to buy LinkedIn Corp.
 
Worldwide social network ad revenue share by company
Share of ad revenue by company. Total ad revenue in dollar billions; percent change.
 
Facebook
 
Twitter
 
LinkedIn
 
Other
 
2014 total
$17.1 billion
(+56.9%)
 
2015 total
$24.7 billion
(+44.4%)
 
2016 total
$33.0 billion
(+33.4%)
 
2017 total
$41.6 billion
(+26.1%)
 
2018 total
$50.4 billion
(+21.3%)
Source: eMarketer (March 2016). More info: eMarketer.com. Numbers rounded. Microsoft Corp. in June 2016 signed deal to buy LinkedIn Corp.
 
U.S. social media ad spending on mobile
Mobile's share of social media spending.
 
Source: Publicis Groupe's Zenith (Advertising Expenditure Forecasts, June 2016). More info: zenithoptimedia.com.
 
FACEBOOK'S SOCIAL MEDIA REACH
In 2016, 89.8% of social network users in the U.S. are Facebook users. Facebook is forecast to capture 75.6% of U.S. social network ad revenue in 2016.
 
Source: eMarketer (March 2016 and August 2016). More info: eMarketer.com.
 
TOP 10 RESPONSES TO THIS QUESTION:
"You said that in the coming year, your firm wants to increase influence and brand reach. What action is your firm taking to achieve this objective?"
35%
of respondents said their companies were initiating or extending social media activity.
 
Source: Forrester Data, Global Business Technographics Priorities and Journey Survey, 2016 (fielded December 2015 to January 2016). More info: forr.com/data. Survey participants could choose multiple responses. Base: 5,034 business and technology decision-makers whose firms are prioritizing increasing influence and reach in the market.
About Ad Age Social Media Facts 2016: Produced by Ad Age Datacenter as a print poster in Ad Age's Sept. 26, 2016, print edition. To order a copy of print edition including poster, email [email protected]. See more: AdAge.com/datacenter. Subscribe: AdAge.com/getdatacenter