Facebook makes up about a third of all online ads in the United States, a new study said.
Facebook accounted for 346 billion ad impressions, according to research firm comScore, and hit the top online ad spot for the first three months of 2011 with 31.2 percent of market share. That's approximately a doubling of ads from this time last year. Second came "Yahoo with 112 billion impressions (10.1 percent), followed by Microsoft Sites with 54 billion impressions (4.8 percent) and AOL, Inc. with 33 billion impressions (3.0 percent)." Google came in fourth with almost 28 billion impressions or 2.5 percent.
The news is very timely, considering that another survey said that Facebook ad revenue should reach $8.34 billion by 2015 because it literally dwarves all other social media, according to AllFacebook. (Uh- oh, do I smell an anti-trust suit?)
The strength of Facebook's ads may have a downside -- mainly that it could be targeting users too broadly, including using children's names and likenesses, Reuters reported. The social network is now facing a class-action lawsuit over the use of minors in its social media ads.
