Twitter posted higher-than-expected revenue growth on Thursday as the social media platform introduced improvements in ad targeting to help brands reach potential customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twitter shares rose 5% to $73 in after-market trading, with advertising revenue of $1.05 billion, up 87% from the same quarter last year, beating Wall Street estimates of $909.9 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since early 2021, Twitter has begun rolling out products in new areas such as audio-only chatrooms and newsletter publishing to reverse years of flat growth and meet its goal of 100% annual revenue growth by 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These improvements, together with increased demand from advertisers seeking to reach consumers when countries reopen after pandemic restrictions, helped boost advertising revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twitter had 206 million daily active users in the second quarter, which ended June 30, according to Refinitiv’s IBES data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Twitter, the social media giant’s U.S. user base fell by one million in three months from the previous quarter due to a lighter news cycle in the United States, with the total number of users worldwide matching Wall Street’s targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Total revenue, which includes revenue from data licenses, rose 74% year-on-year to $1.19 billion, beating analyst forecasts of $1.07 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company now expects full-year headcount, total costs and expenses to increase by at least 30%, up from a previous estimate of 25%, as it invests in its engineering and product teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twitter expects total revenue for the third quarter to be between $1.22 billion and $1.3 billion, roughly in line with analysts’ estimates of $1.17 billion or slightly above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On an adjusted basis, Twitter earned 20 cents per share in the second quarter, well above its estimate of 7 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n