Facebook Inc., owner of the world’s largest social-networking site, said its advertisers have more than quadrupled since the start of 2009 as marketers aim to get their products before a growing global audience.
Facebook, which has been opening offices around the world to serve ad clients, doubled the number of salespeople last year from 2008, according to an e-mailed statement. The company didn’t disclose the number of advertisers or salespeople.
Companies are boosting ad spending after a lull during the recession in a bid to reach consumers who spend long stretches on the Internet. Facebook, which has more than 500 million users, counts Procter & Gamble Co., Toys “R” Us Inc. and Virgin America Inc. among its customers. It’s relying on ads to maintain sales growth and lay the groundwork for a possible initial public offering.
“We’re very well positioned as people come out of this current economic situation,” Mike Murphy, vice president of global sales, said in an interview at Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California. “What we’ve become is absolutely core to marketing campaigns.”
Facebook sells ads that are placed on the home pages of users, where the latest comments, pictures and links from their friends are posted. The ads also show up next to profile pages, which may include a person’s information such as gender or birth date.
Adidas Marketing
Adidas AG has used Facebook to promote its youth-focused Originals label, said Chris Barbour, who leads global digital marketing for the company’s Sport Style unit. Adidas, the world’s second-largest sporting-goods maker, tries to target users regionally to give the brand a personal touch, he said.
“Wherever our fans are, we’re going to use Facebook to speak to them,” Barbour said. “And we’re going to try to speak to them in a locally relevant way.”
The company ran ads this year to drive more users to its Originals page on Facebook, which features new products and user discussions, he said. Three times as many people signed up to be “fans” of the page during the campaign, compared with the typical rate, he said.
Facebook ran 176 billion display ads in the U.S. in the first quarter, up from 70.7 billion a year earlier, according to research firm ComScore Inc. in Reston, Virginia.
Yahoo, Microsoft
Its growth comes as a threat to rivals Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Facebook has emerged as the largest site for display ads, with a market share of 16 percent, rising from 11 percent in the fourth quarter. That topped Yahoo, which had a 12 percent share, down from 13 percent in the previous period. ComScore doesn’t include the ads that Yahoo places on websites it doesn’t own. Microsoft had 5.5 percent.
Facebook also became the most visited website in March, overtaking longtime leader Google Inc. for the first time, according to Experian Hitwise, a research firm in New York.
Even as companies ramp up spending, privacy challenges threaten to curb advertiser interest if it leads to a slowdown in Facebook’s user growth, said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at market-research firm EMarketer Inc. in Seattle.
Facebook faced growing criticism over how it handles privacy after announcing features in April that enabled more sharing with outside sites. Consumer groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, and some users dropped the service.
Responding to the criticism, Facebook introduced new privacy settings last week that make it easier for users to protect their information. The company is also making less data publicly available.
‘Pay Attention’
The new settings should “help us scale the service to millions and millions of more people,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, 26, said last week. The privacy complaints had no meaningful impact on Facebook usage, he said.
Companies should keep a close eye on user growth numbers in coming months, EMarketer’s Williamson said. Users might decide to hide some personal information used by advertisers to target customers, she said.
Facebook had 519.1 million users in April, up from 411 million in September, according to ComScore.
For now, the user growth presents a big enticement for advertisers, Williamson said.
“Any large numbers like that make advertisers say, ‘Wow, I need to pay attention to this.’”
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Tata Opens Plant for World’s Cheapest Car on Demand
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Tata Motors Ltd., maker of the world’s cheapest car, opened a plant for the $2,500 Nano model that will boost output amid rising demand for automobiles in the south Asian nation.
The factory in Sanand, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, will have initial capacity to build 250,000 Nanos a year, Tata Motors said in an e-mailed statement today. The facility may later be able to produce as many as 350,000 of the cars annually, the company said without elaborating.
Higher production will help Tata clear a backlog of orders for the Nano as it seeks to win customers from Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. and Hyundai Motor Co., the country’s two largest carmakers. Renault SA is also working on an ultra-low cost auto for India, where the government estimates demand for cars may more than double to 3 million annually by 2015, helped by economic expansion and rising incomes.
“More Nanos on the road is crucial to establish the brand as a car for the masses,” said Vaishali Jajoo, a Mumbai-based analyst at Angel Broking Ltd. “Exports of the Nano were always on the cards and this factory will help achieve that as well.”
Tata Motors received 206,703 Nano orders in the initial sales period in April 2009 and chose the first 100,000 customers for the 624-cc model by lottery. That car, with one windshield wiper and no radio or air conditioning at the entry level, sells for 123,360 rupees ($2,615) in New Delhi.
Deliveries of the Nano began in July, and the company sold 33,875 of the cars through April, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
Personal Transport
“Our effort was to give people of India an affordable car,” Ratan Tata said in a speech today. “We are giving people of India a chance for personal transport.” The company canceled a press conference on the Nano because of a cyclonic storm.
Indians may buy as many as 1 million low-cost cars a year by 2016, according to CSM Worldwide Inc. Tata, also owner of the Jaguar Land Rover luxury brands, can account for at least half of that market with its first-mover advantage, according to Puneet Gupta, a New Delhi-based analyst of CSM.
Nissan Motor Co., Renault and Bajaj Auto Ltd. are jointly developing a $3,000 car for showrooms in 2012. The car, one year behind schedule, would be produced at a plant in the western Indian state of Maharashtra with capacity to produce 400,000 vehicles.
A dedicated factory for the Nano was delayed after the automaker halted construction of another plant in Singur, West Bengal state, because of violent protests by farmers demanding the return of land acquired for the site.
Tata abandoned the near-complete facility in October 2008 and began building the Sanand facility on 445 hectares (1,100 acres).
The factory in Sanand, in the western Indian state of Gujarat, will have initial capacity to build 250,000 Nanos a year, Tata Motors said in an e-mailed statement today. The facility may later be able to produce as many as 350,000 of the cars annually, the company said without elaborating.
Higher production will help Tata clear a backlog of orders for the Nano as it seeks to win customers from Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. and Hyundai Motor Co., the country’s two largest carmakers. Renault SA is also working on an ultra-low cost auto for India, where the government estimates demand for cars may more than double to 3 million annually by 2015, helped by economic expansion and rising incomes.
“More Nanos on the road is crucial to establish the brand as a car for the masses,” said Vaishali Jajoo, a Mumbai-based analyst at Angel Broking Ltd. “Exports of the Nano were always on the cards and this factory will help achieve that as well.”
Tata Motors received 206,703 Nano orders in the initial sales period in April 2009 and chose the first 100,000 customers for the 624-cc model by lottery. That car, with one windshield wiper and no radio or air conditioning at the entry level, sells for 123,360 rupees ($2,615) in New Delhi.
Deliveries of the Nano began in July, and the company sold 33,875 of the cars through April, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
Personal Transport
“Our effort was to give people of India an affordable car,” Ratan Tata said in a speech today. “We are giving people of India a chance for personal transport.” The company canceled a press conference on the Nano because of a cyclonic storm.
Indians may buy as many as 1 million low-cost cars a year by 2016, according to CSM Worldwide Inc. Tata, also owner of the Jaguar Land Rover luxury brands, can account for at least half of that market with its first-mover advantage, according to Puneet Gupta, a New Delhi-based analyst of CSM.
Nissan Motor Co., Renault and Bajaj Auto Ltd. are jointly developing a $3,000 car for showrooms in 2012. The car, one year behind schedule, would be produced at a plant in the western Indian state of Maharashtra with capacity to produce 400,000 vehicles.
A dedicated factory for the Nano was delayed after the automaker halted construction of another plant in Singur, West Bengal state, because of violent protests by farmers demanding the return of land acquired for the site.
Tata abandoned the near-complete facility in October 2008 and began building the Sanand facility on 445 hectares (1,100 acres).
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