(Corrects paragraph 8 to billion instead of million)
By Jennifer Saba
Aug 13 (Reuters) - One out of three people in the UnitedStates - more than 128 million - visit Facebook everyday, and about 24 million in the United Kingdom do the same, thecompany said on Tuesday, releasing regional data for the firsttime as a way of helping advertisers understand how people usethe social network.
It is also part of a larger push to go after dollarsearmarked for TV commercials, the top choice among advertiserswhen they launch campaigns.
"We would like to be able to be explicit and say this is theamount of people you can reach tomorrow, or the amount of peopleyou can reach when you are launching a movie," said CarolynEverson, Facebook vice president of global marketing solutions.
Consider that almost 6 million people tuned in to watch themid-season premier of AMC's highly anticipated series "BreakingBad" on Sunday.
With more than 1 billion users, there is little doubt aboutthe popularity of the world's No. 1 social network, but advertisers often need much more data to make decisions.
Rebecca Lieb, a media and advertising analyst at AltimeterGroup, said one billion is an abstract number. "As impressiveand as big as Facebook is, by breaking it down more regionallywe are getting more of an idea," she said.
Facebook also released on Tuesday the number of activemonthly and daily mobile users in the United States and the U.K.
Television commands the largest share of advertising moneyspent in the United States at 39 percent, according to eMarketerresearch, which estimated that $66.3 billion in ad dollars would go towards TV this year. Digital advertising represents about25 percent of 2013 estimated advertising spend at $42 billion.
SHIFTING HABITS
Still, there is a shift occurring: the average time spentdaily with digital media is expected to surpass TV viewing forthe first time this year, according to eMarketer.
Underscoring the change taking place in people's habits, WPP founder and Chief Executive Martin Sorrell expects up to45 percent of the agency's business to go towards digital withinfive years, he wrote in post on LinkedIn.
Facebook delivered its strongest ad revenue growthperformance in almost two years in July as it benefited from 18months of retooling its products, including a mobile version ofits service. Total ad revenue in the second quarter was $1.6billion and its shares are up almost 50 percent over the pastmonth.
The company is widely expected to launch a revamped videoadvertising service, but Facebook's Everson declined to commenton this.
"The conversation now is how can you reach this amount ofpeople and target them," Everson said about how advertisers wantto limit the amount of "waste" spent on trying to reach theright consumer.
She said that because Facebook's audience is so large, ithas the ability to target consumers.
"Eyeballs are important but they are not the only thing inadvertising," said Clark Fredricksen, a vice president ateMarketer. "The receptiveness of the TV audience is ultimatelythe reason why its such a huge ad medium."
"Sitting and watching the screen is different than clickingand operating on an agenda," he said. (Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by ToniReinhold)
WPP (WPP)
