Facebook hits 449M monthly active users in Asia, only monetizes $1.27 per person

Facebook shows no signs of slowing down in Asia Pacific. The social network’s 4th quarter earnings release shows that its expansion in the region continues to outpace Europe, US/Canada, and the nebulously titled, “rest of world.” Adding an additional 23 million monthly active users (MAU), Facebook now has 449 million MAUs in Asia, a 51 percent increase from the same period two years ago.

The “rest of world” comes in second with a 43 percent jump over two years while the US/Canada region pulls up the rear at a paltry 8 percent.

User growth may be slow in North America but that region is generating far more money than Asia-Pacific. The average revenue per user (ARPU) in US/Canada is a robust US$9.00, while in Asia-Pacific it is a relatively paltry US$1.27. That creates a revenue gap of US$1.7 billion to US$531 billion. Asia-Pacific accounts for 32 percent of Facebook MAUs but just a shade under 15 percent of its revenues. US/Canada is responsible for an outsized 48 percent of global revenue being generated by only 15 percent of the 1.39 billion user base.

The mixed results represent a conundrum for Facebook. The rapid adoption and spread of its service proves once again that users in Asia-Pacific are hungry for the online communities that Facebook supports. Even so, most of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising fees and the company cannot charge North American prices in many parts of Asia-Pacific. Indonesian internet users are growing rapidly but their purchasing power is not.

How Facebook adapts to this challenge will be critical in the coming years. After all, what is the point of having a user base larger than the population of China if you cannot unlock their cash?