Facebook gets 25% of digital ad revenue

NEW YORK — Facebook Inc. is rapidly increasing its ad revenue from video, capturing 25 percent of the nation’s digital ad spending in that category, according to a forecast released Tuesday.

Facebook is expected to bring in $6.8 billion in digital video ad revenue this year, up 42 percent from 2017, according to research firm EMarketer. The Menlo Park, Calif., company, which owns photo and video app Instagram, is outpacing video ad sales for other social media competitors, including Twitter Inc. and Snap Inc. Facebook commands 87 percent of U.S. social network video ad spending, compared with Twitter’s 8 percent and Snap’s 5 percent.

The growth comes as Facebook has been heavily investing in expanding its video offerings with several scripted shows such as Sorry for Your Loss, which stars Elizabeth Olsen and has received critical acclaim similar to network TV shows.

The longer-video format gives Facebook more opportunities to sell ads and encourage its 2.2 billion monthly active users to spend more time on the social network, analysts said.

Facebook’s video ad sales are expected to represent nearly 30 percent of the company’s total revenue this year, EMarketer said. That’s a growth compared with EMarketer’s estimates for 2017, when Facebook’s video ad sales represented just 12 percent of the company’s total ad revenue.

Video has become a popular way for advertisers reach consumers, as more people spend time watching shows on their smartphones. This year, video ads will represent a quarter of U.S. digital ad spending, according to EMarketer.