Twitter To Make Over $1 Billion In Revenue In 2014

Sites include Twitter.com . Published on June 16th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

It’s not often that you see open tiffs between analysts and tech companies but one has erupted between Twitter and several analysts who have dared to suggest the micro-blogging giant won’t make anything near a $1 billion in ad revenue in the next couple of years.

The folks at Twitter countered a claim by eMarketer which predicts that Twitter will make around $540 million from its ad business by the year 2014. The Twitter counter had a more optimistic outlook and puts the predicted ad revenues at a whopping $1 billion.

Twitter’s apparent confidence is based on the fact that the company has more than just display advertising in its arsenal. Unlike Facebook which relies heavily on this model, Twitter has a mix of so-called promoted products. These include accounts, tweets and other areas of engagement, which according to Twitter are sometimes even more responsive than traditional banner advertising.

Perhaps the chasm between what analysts say and what the tech company says is a bigger problem than many would care to admit. Facebook in many respects is a suitable example; long before the company went public, the figures often looked good and promising. Now that it has gone public and disclosure requirements now more robust, the figures don’t look so promising.

Twitter could very well be on track to making $1 billion; its not for anyone outside of the company to say. Besides, and perhaps more importantly, publicly traded dollars are not at stake yet.