ComScore: Facebook leads industry in display ads

According to the latest statistics released by research firm ComScore, popular social network Facebook further improved its dominating position in the social networking arena in 2011, grabbing a notable 28 percent share of US online display-advertising impressions during the year.

Revealing that Facebook has leaped from 21 percent online display-ad impressions in 2010 to 28 percent last year, ComScore said that Yahoo - which Facebook first surpassed in 2009 - retained its second position with 11 percent impressions. Meanwhile, while Microsoft ranked third by accounting for 4.5 percent of impressions; and Google was in the fourth spot with 3.6 percent impressions.

About the new Facebook numbers in terms of online display-ad impressions, Andrew Lipsman - VP of marketing and industry analysis at ComScore - said that the social networking giant is clearly prompting advertisers to direct ad dollars towards social media.

Lipsman is also of the opinion that Facebook's stupendous success in display-ad impressions is largely an outcome of the relentless efforts of the company's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who has been able to effectively convince advertisers that since ads on Facebook come through a friend, they are far more compelling than any other ads.

With ComScore data showing that "3 out of every 10 ads" are on Facebook, Lipsman said that Facebook has come to dominate display advertising, and added: "If we think back a couple of years, large brands were hesitant to use social media channels. Fast forward to today, and that has really reversed itself."