Twitter Expected to Post $1 Billion Ad Revenues In 2014

Twitter Inc. is expected to generate at least $1 billion in advertising sales in 2014, growing about twice as fast as the prediction of analysts.

This forecast is made by two people with seeming authority on the matter, but who have asked to remain unidentified as the figures are private. They claim that the large 2014 sales forecast is based on the predicted growth on advertising demand.

Advertising sales make up virtually all of Twitter’s revenues, and researchers at EMarketer Inc. claim that numbers will reach $540 million by 2014. This is up from 2011’s $139.5 million, thanks to the pull of Twitter’s 140 million users.

Despite this, larger competitors Facebook Inc and Goggle Inc generated $1 billion faster than Twitter. Google got $1 billion five years after its founding, while Facebook it six years after it got started. Twitter will be eight years old in 2014, hopefully getting the $1 billion goal by then.

In line with this, Twitter has launched a campaign to attract more marketers to put their ads on the site. It unveiled its first ad offering in 2010 and started a self-service platform this year for small businesses. It also recently expanded mobile-ad services.

The networking site is also working to expand internationally such as in Japan to lessen its dependence on the US market from hopefully 90 percent this year to 83 percent in 2014.

Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo is also trying to boost management stability following a series of changes in leadership. Costolo took over from Evan Williams, a co-founder, in 2010. In 2011, another co-founder, Jack Dorsey, became executive chairman and head of product development.

EMarketer’s estimates for Twitter’s revenues are lower than the said $1 billion, though the company declined to comment on both predictions.