) and MySpace (
) – making now, and how will that shift over the next few years as Facebook continues to extend its traffic lead and intensifies its ad sales? eMarketer is out today with some projections. The research firm projects that MySpace revenue in the US will total $495 million this year, down 15 percent from last year but still significantly ahead of the $230 million in domestic revenue they expect Facebook to generate. Worldwide, eMarketer expects MySpace to pull in $520 million in total sales, with the internationally stronger Facebook seeing $300 million. The firm projects that Facebook will surpass MySpace in revenue by 2011.
While the decline in MySpace revenue is to be expected – traffic at the site has been falling and they’ve been forced to make significant staffing cuts recently – the Facebook numbers seem to be an underestimate based on other reports we’ve been hearing. Most recently, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen told Reuters that he expects the social network to generate at least $500 million in revenue this year, and “billions” within the next few years.
Not to mention, with traffic now more than double that of MySpace in the US, it’s hard to imagine that Facebook is only making half the revenue. In any event, with neither company publicly sharing their sales numbers, it will remain a subject of much speculation for now. But it would certainly seem that the momentum is in Facebook’s favor.
