Facebook, Google Could Lose Over $44 Billion in Ad Revenue in 2020 Because of Coronavirus

Todd Spangler, reporting for Variety:

Ad spending is falling off a cliff amid the COVID-19 pandemic — and Facebook and Google, the two heavyweights in digital advertising, are expected to bear the brunt of the downturn in terms of sheer dollars lost.

The two internet giants together could see more than $44 billion in worldwide ad revenue evaporate in 2020, Cowen & Co. analysts estimate. That said, both Google and Facebook will continue to be massively profitable even with double-digit revenue drops.

Usage of both Facebook and Google is spiking, because everyone’s at home all day. But the general rule of thumb since the dawn of time is that the first thing to get cut in a recession is the ad budget.

★ Wednesday, 25 March 2020