Facebook which has got 132 million users in India according to reports is struggling to sell Facebook advertising in India. According to analysts, Facebook earns 15 cents per user in India every quarter, compared to the $7 to $8 through Facebook Advertising. Neil Shah, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, a Hong Kong-based technology consulting firm was quoted as saying that he estimates Facebook brings in $15 million a quarter. This is far behind the $350 million which he estimates Google earns there per quarter. Google has been a dominating force since 2004 and its google ads campaign has been highly successful.
Facebook in its attempt to increase the revenue from advertisements is trying to lure skeptical advertisers in India with features such as free email support for questions about advertising. The social media giant is also giving advice on increasing sales in a bid to boost revenue from its second biggest market India. Facebook also advises businesses to create interactive Facebook pages and use Facebook Messenger to interact with customers as a way of increasing sales. The biggest market for Facebook is United States which has got 193 million users. The company is focusing on Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico as well.
Facebook unveiled a new type of ad called “click to missed call” last year in an effort to win over clients. The company is betting big on markets like India because for the second quarter of this year, 51.3 per cent of Facebook’s $4 billion in revenue came from outside the US and Canada.
In order to make more people access Facebook, the company is working to make it easier for users to get on the service. Social giant developed Facebook Lite, which uses less data, for India and other emerging markets as part of this strategy. It has also rolled out its Internet.org initiative in India.
The major challenge the company has been facing is that Indian advertisers are still skeptical about spending on social media and they prefer to spend on television ads. How Facebook addresses this concern and competes against Google remains to be seen.
