How Mobile Ads Have Changed Facebook's Top-Line Growth Story

It is safe to say Facbeook Inc FB proved naysayers wrong back in 2012 when the company began selling mobile advertising space.

As noted by Statista, the most bullish optimists at the time could have never imagined the level of success Facebook would see in mobile advertising over the years. In fact, mobile advertising accounts for more than 90 percent of Facebook's revenue growth dating back to 2012.

Q4 Print Surprises

In Facebook's fourth-quarter earnings print, the company stated that mobile advertising accounted for 84 percent of its total advertising revenue. Mobile advertising also accounted for 82 percent of the company's total revenue which soared 51 percent from a year ago to $8.81 billion and exceeded Wall Street analysts estimates by $118 million.

By comparison, mobile advertising revenue represented 80 percent of total advertising revenue in the same quarter a year ago.

Facebook also reported that it earned $1.41 per share in the fourth quarter, which was 10 cents better than expected.

Statista further pointed out that Facebook boasts a staggering 1.15 billion mobile users (up 23 percent from a year ago) on an average day so it shouldn't be a surprise that its mobile advertising efforts are successful — and may still be in the infancy stage.

"Our mission to connect the world is more important now than ever," Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO said in the company's earnings report. "Our business did well in 2016, but we have a lot of work ahead to help bring people together."