Facebook ad revenue fell for first time ever in UK, says Liberum

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.David Ramos/Getty Images

• Respected media analyst Liberum circulated a note saying Facebook’s UK advertising revenue may have fallen for the first time ever in June.
• Liberum said it showed Facebook’s woes might be catching up with the company, but it also posited that advertisers could have switched spend toTV during the World Cup.
• The gossip comes with caveats, but it’s another signal that the social network is not an untouchable rocket ship of growth.

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An analyst has taken the unusual step of sharing some advertising industry gossip about Facebook — and it’s probably the kind of thing the company would prefer to keep a lid on.

Respected media watchers over at British analyst Liberum sent a note to clients claiming that Facebook’s UK advertising revenue may have fallen for the first time ever in June. 

One caveat: It’s from one media buying source and relates to one month’s worth of data. Facebook declined to comment.

Liberum said it could be a sign that “Facebook’s woes are starting to impact advertising revenues.” Although it didn’t go into any material detail about these woes, it did reference fake news. The analyst could also be referring to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, GDPR, and election meddling.

Another theory Liberum posited is that advertisers diverted spend into TV because of the World Cup. The football tournament is an ad bonanza for commercial channels like ITV — all helped by England’s strong performance, as the team was cheered on by giant audiences of up to 27 million viewers.

Liberum’s information is not exactly shut down by Facebook’s second-quarter earnings either, which helped wipe a record $119 billion off the firm’s value in a single day.

The company’s revenues of $13.23 billion were below Wall Street expectations, while it warned of revenue growth rates falling by “high single digit” percentages in the coming quarters. What’s more, Facebook’s monthly active users declined in Europe for the first time since at least 2009.

Gossip it may be, but the mere fact that media buyers are even talking about Facebook in these terms is another signal that the social network is not an untouchable rocket ship of growth.