During the first quarter of 2010, Facebook served up more banner ads than any other website, according to new data from comScore published in The Wall Street Journal.
In total, the social networking site displayed 176.3 billion ads during the period, for an average of better than 50 billion ads each month. That total represents 16.2% of the total number of banner ads served across the entire web, and places the site ahead of the likes of Yahoo and Microsoft – the latter by nearly triple.
Of course, Facebook (Facebook) isn’t quite monetizing on the level of those Internet (Internet) giants just yet, with recent estimates placing the company’s 2010 revenue at around $1 billion (Yahoo is expected to do nearly $5 billion in revenue this year).
Its monetization strategy expands beyond banner ads, though, exemplified by the recent launch of a virtual currency —- Facebook Credits —- that sees the company take a 30% cut from game developers with apps on the social network. Some see this eventually morphing into a PayPal competitor.
Photo by neatorama.