Twitter recently posted is fourth quarter earnings for fiscal 2016, revealing that the social network has mostly missed analyst estimates for the period.
The social media company recorded $717 million USD in revenue for Q4, far below predictions of $739.97 million. However, revenue was still up from $710.5 million during the same time last year.
Twitter generated $440 million of its revenue from U.S.-based users and $277 million from those outside of the U.S. Interestingly, while U.S. revenue was up by five percent, international revenue increased by a more significant 12 percent.
It’s important to note that despite less than expected earnings for the quarter, Twitter’s statement does contain reason for optimism.
Twitter reported 319 million monthly active users (MAUs) for the quarter, which ended December 31st. This represents a four percent increase in MAUs for the company, year over year. The platform’s daily active users also grew by 11 percent year over year. This growth remains steady from a three percent increase in Q2 and a seven percent increase in Q3.
However, the social giant saw its losses almost double from $90.2 million in the final quarter of 2015 to a total of $167 million last quarter. Twitter points to the high cost of its recent layoffs, which the company announced last year in an attempt to cut expenses.
Twitter also saw its expenses grow by 11 percent to $861 million in the fourth quarter nonetheless, and attributes this increase to restructuring costs.
While the company’s video strategy seems to be paying off in ad dollars, these numbers were largely evened out by what it lost on Promoted Tweets. Overall, Twitter’s advertising revenue is slightly down year over year to $638 million, of which mobile advertising makes up 89 percent.
Video is also the company’s largest ad-revenue generating format, which speaks to the ambitions of many other social companies. Snapchat, Facebook, and by default, Instagram, are restructuring their ad revenue formats with a strong nod towards video monetization.
The company’s full year revenue reached $2.5 billion, which represents a 14 percent increase from the same period last year.
As part of its earnings statement, Twitter emphasizes livestreaming video as an integral part of the company’s engagement strategy going forward. In the fourth quarter alone, Twitter streamed over 600 hours of live video, bringing in an audience of over 31 million viewers.
Overall, the company emphasized throughout the report that it remains financially sustainable. The company generated over $444 million in cash over 2016, up from $5 million in 2015, which appears feeble in comparison.
By the end of the 2016 fiscal year, the floundering social company had $3.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. Surprisingly, the company declined to release revenue-specific guidance for the upcoming quarter.
Source: Twitter
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