Mobile advertising represents 91% of Facebook's ad revenue

Despite the recent wave of negative press surrounding its Cambridge Analytica debacle, Facebook revenue has continued to stay strong, read its recent earnings release.The social media giant revealed that in Asia Pacific, advertising revenue was at US$2.1 billion in Q1 2018, up from US$1.3 billion the year before in Q1 2017. Total ad revenue across all markets was at US$11.7 billion, up from US$7.8 billion the year before.Globally, mobile advertising revenue also represented around 91% of advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2018. This was up from approximately 85% of advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2017.Daily active user (DAU) count is currently at 529 million in APAC, up from 427 million last year. Meanwhile, MAU is up to 873 million, from 716 million the year before. Overall, Facebook’s DAU saw an increase of 13% year-over-year (yoy), this amounted to an average of 1.45 billion for March 2018. In terms of monthly active users, the social media giant also saw an increase of 13% YOY, amounting to 2.2 billion as of 31 March 2018.The results coincide with a recent report from data science and marketing technology company 4C Insights’ latest study which indicated that advertisers are still continuing spend on Facebook. The report, which sampled over 1,000 brands worldwide said Facebook had a 62% increase in ad spend yoy in Q1.It also comes amidst a waft of negative press the social media giant is experiencing in recent months. Just last week, Facebook came under fire for storing data on facial recognition from photos without the permission of users.  According to multiple media reports, a US federal judge ruled that the company will have to face a class action lawsuit for the unlawful use of facial recognition.Most recently, the social media company boosted initiatives to monetise video content on its platform, one of them being the expansion of pre-roll ads which it tested on Facebook Watch last December. This is to grow payouts for creators and publishers who have built engaged and loyal viewers.Read also:Zuckerberg apology tour: Do founders always make the best CEOs?Zuckerberg apologises (again) for data scandal, swaps iconic T-shirt for suitFacebook loses US$60bn in market value following user data scandalFacebook cleans up privacy measures in new updateMark Zuckerberg addresses Facebook user data scandal, vows to fix issuesFacebook’s cut off with third-party data partners: Who stands to lose?