KOLKATA: Microblogging site Twitter reported $1.04 billion revenue for the first quarter of 2021, up 28 per cent year-on-year. It also posted a profit of $68 million, turning back its business from $8.4 million in losses a year ago.

Advertising revenue totaled $899 million, an increase of 32 per cent and total ad engagements increased 11 per cent year-over-year.

“Q1 was a solid start to 2021, with total revenue of $1.04 billion up 28 per cent year-over-year, reflecting accelerating year-over-year growth in MAP (mobile application promotion) revenue and brand advertising that improved throughout the quarter,” Twitter CFO Ned Segal said.

Despite its so-called “solid” performance, Twitter’s stock price dropped nine per cent after reporting Q1 earnings that only narrowly exceeded Wall Street estimates. Analysts had forecast the company would add eight million users during the quarter to surpass 200 million global users overall, as opposed to the one million daily users reported by the social platform.

“Advertisers continue to benefit from updated ad formats, improved measurement, and new brand safety controls, contributing to 32 per cent year-over-year growth in ad revenue in Q1,” he added.

The social media network’s monetisable daily active users (mDAU) grew about 20 per cent to 199 million, falling slightly below the analysts’ expectation of 200 million. Average US mDAU were 38 million for Q1, compared to 33 million in the same period of the previous year, and also bettering the count of 37 million in the previous quarter. On the other hand, international mDAU were 162 million for Q1, compared to 133 million in the same period of the previous year and against 155 million in the previous quarter.

The company has guided total revenue to be between $980 million and $1.08 billion for Q2.

“People turn to Twitter to see and talk about what’s happening, and we are helping them find their interests more quickly while making it easier to follow and participate in conversations,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said.

“Average monetisable DAU reached 199 million, up 20 per cent year over year and up seven million sequentially, driven by ongoing product improvements and global conversation around current events,” he noted.

This quarter also marked Twitter's first period mostly without the presence of former US president Donald Trump after he was banned from the service following the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol in Washington DC. Speculations are rife in the industry corridors that Trump plans on starting his own social media site to go head to head with the likes of Twitter and Facebook.