Social network platform Twitter made more sales and profits than Wall Street expected in the second quarter of 2021.
Economic media CNBC reported on the 23rd that Twitter collected $1.19 billion in second-quarter sales and 20 cents in earnings per share.
This far exceeded sales of $1.07 billion and net income per share of 7 cents, the Wall Street consensus (average of performance forecasts) compiled by financial information company Refinitive.
Sales increased by 74 percent compared to the same period last year, the biggest increase since 2014. “The demand for advertisers has increased extensively,” Twitter said.
Net profit also returned to a $65.6 million surplus in the second quarter of this year from a $1.38 billion net loss in the second quarter of last year.
However, the monthly active users was estimated to be 260 million, somewhat less than the market’s expectation of 262 million.
Twitter said the impact of Apple’s newly introduced privacy measures on the iPhone operating system (iOS) 14.5 was not greater than expected.
Apple updated iOS in late April to make sure iPhone users can track their search activities or website visits when they first run the app.
Since then, as most users have opted to block tracking of usage records, the market has been paying keen attention to how much Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Snap, which have been using these activity records to advertise customized targets, will be hit.
Meanwhile, Twitter released a report card that exceeded the market’s expectations, and Snap, which also announced its performance on that day, also exceeded expectations.
In a recent report, market research firm Bernstein predicted that major companies in the digital advertising industry will continue to see strong sales performance gains in recent quarters.
Bernstein’s analyst analyzed that the impact on advertising expenditure will not be significant due to the limitation of customized advertising capabilities. The advertising expenses used for iPhone users will be transferred to Google’s Android users, and the advertising target will also be changed.
Analysts also predicted that new advertising spending in sectors such as travel, financial services, and intercompany transactions (B2B) will replace advertisements such as retail, media, and games.