Where Are Facebook's Users?

Facebook announced this morning that they now reach 500 million active users (just five and half years after launching). But where do these half a billion users reside? Refreshing my post from February, the share of users from Asia continues to rise and now stands at 17% of all Facebook users.

Read more here.

Google On Newspaper Profits

The large profit margins newspapers enjoyed in the past were built on an artificial scarcity: Limited choice for advertisers as well as readers. With the Internet, that scarcity has been taken away and replaced by abundance. No policy proposal will be able to restore newspaper revenues to what they were before the emergence of online news. It is not a question of analog dollars versus digital dimes, but rather a realistic assessment of how to make money in a world of abundant competitors and consumer choice.

Read more here.

Worldwide Ad Growth

ZenithOptimedia has raised its worldwide advertising growth estimate again -- this time to a 3.5% hike in 2010 over the year before. The big media-buying group says strong growth in North America and Europe, as well as higher revenues from Internet, mobile and social media, is driving its estimates higher. Zenith says 2010 is estimated to hit $448 billion.

There is better news for 2011, where global ad spending is expected to climb 4.5% from a 4.1% previous estimate. Outer years will climb at better rates; 2012 will see 5.3% growth.

Zenith expects developed markets will grow by 2.4% in 2011 and 2.9% in 2012. Developing markets will grow much more substantially. They were expected to grow by 9.1% and 9.8%, mostly from Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions.

All this will be a reversal from 2009, which had a 10.3% decline.

Worldwide television is expected to get to a 40.8% share of the global ad market in 2012, up from 39.2% in 2009.

Internet ad spending will continue to be the biggest medium after TV and newspapers. In 2010, it will grow 13.1% in 2010 and gain another 16.1% in 2011. By 2012, there will be another big gain: 17.1%. Zenith notes that Internet ad spending was at 12.7% in 2009.

In North America, the agency is forecasting a 1.3% growth in 2010 -- up from an earlier estimate that pegged the market at a 1.5% decline. ZenithOptimedia now expects a 2.2% growth in Western Europe, up from 0.4% previous estimate.

Read more here.

TV Everywhere Study

Good news for those TV Everywhere cable proponents: Not only do consumers seem to like the idea, they may even pay extra for it. A new study from The Diffusion Group says 60% of adult broadband users -- 95 million consumers -- are "enthusiastic" about TV Everywhere. More interesting: 34% -- 54 million consumers -- are willing to pay at least $5 extra per month for those services. The study went further, saying that about 33% of consumers would pay about $10 extra a month, and 20% would pay more than $15 per month.

TV Everywhere is an attempt to keep consumers paying for those packages by demanding authentication of their cable or satellite programming deals, which would allow them to watch TV shows online.

Read more at Media Post.

Gannett Broadcast Up

The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Friday that its second-quarter profit more than doubled from a year ago, helped by a rebound in broadcast revenue, a one-time tax gain and a less severe drop in print advertising. But revenue at the company, which publishes USA Today, and owns more than 80 other daily newspapers and 23 TV stations, fell more than was expected and its share price fell 11 percent.

Read more at the NY Times.