April 29, 2021
Higher-priced ads help Facebook record a net revenue of $26.17 billion in the first quarter of 2021. This corresponded with a 48% increase from net revenue the previous year; the company attributed this to a 30% increase in average price per ad and 12% increase in number of ads delivered overall.
However, Facebook doesn’t expect things to remain rosy forever. CFO Dave Wehner said in the company’s earnings release for Q1 2021 that the company expects “increased ad targeting headwinds” from regulatory and platform changes. More specifically, Facebook expects immediate impact from Apple’s recently launched iOS 14.5, which requires apps to proactively seek user consent to being tracked for advertising.