Facebook Becomes the Fastest Growing Global Media Company

Facebook is not just an online social network anymore. According ZenithOptimedia, the company has become the fastest-growing media owner in the world.

A new report by ZenithOptimedia ranking the top 30 global media companies reveals that Facebook’s media revenues grew 63 percent over the past year, bumping the brand from 27th place in 2013 to 10th place this year. Such rapid growth can be ascribed to the company’s focus on mobile, according Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting for ZenithOptimedia.

“The key to Facebook’s recent growth has been its rapid embrace of mobile technology,” Barnard says. “Its mobile apps encourage users to visit regularly and frequently throughout the day, while the ads are designed to blend seamlessly into the content feed. This has made its mobile ads more effective than standard mobile display ads, which are intrusive, take up much of the screen, and are more likely to annoy consumers than engage them.”

He adds that last year, Facebook attracted approximately 27 percent of all mobile ad spend, which is currently the main driver of the increasing ad spend.

Baidu, China’s equivalent of Google, was the world’s second fastest growing company. Its media revenue grew by 43 percent over the year, followed by Brazil’s major media owner Grupo Globo.

While Facebook and Baidu are growing quickly, Google is now 136 percent bigger than the world’s second-largest media owner, Disney, up from 115 percent a year earlier.

It seems the media landscape is changing, with many digital players becoming as profitable as their traditional peers. In addition to Facebook and Baidu, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft also make the cut.

“Two years ago Baidu was not on the top 30 list, while Microsoft and Facebook were much further down the ranking,” Barnard notes.

You can find ZenithOptimedia’s full list below: