7 Things We Learned From Twitter's Q1 Earnings Report

Twitter's Q1 earnings revealed some interesting facts about the company's status, including that leaks caused losses for the platform, its user base has grown, and Periscope has hit 1 million users.

Twitter released its 2015 first-quarter financial results on Wednesday, reporting revenues of $436 million but increased losses of $162 million.

Several facts and figures were banded about in the Twitter financial report and during an earnings call with chief executive Dick Costolo. ClickZ‘s sister publication V3 has selected the seven most insightful nuggets that indicate Twitter’s current business position and future direction.

1. Leaks Cause Losses in Share Prices

shutterstock-160355549-leaking-bucket

A leak of Twitter’s Q1 financial results prompted its share price to tumble as traders got an early glimpse at lower-than-expected revenues.

Twitter requested trading in the firm’s stock to be suspended after discovering the leak, but the damage had been done and Twitter’s share value had dropped by 20 percent.

The leak was initially attributed to a company called Selerity, which denied responsibility and malice.

2. Twitter Losses Are Getting Bigger

A meat cleaver cutting through the word losses

Twitter posted a $162 million loss for the first quarter, a $30 million increase over the same period last year.

Twitter’s quarterly revenue was up by 74 percent to $436 million, but the firm appears to be pursuing a long-term strategy that involves spending money to eventually make money.

3. Twitter Will Acquire TellApart

TellApart self-learning circuit

Twitter also revealed that it has entered into an agreement to acquire marketing technology firm TellApart, although it did not disclose how much it will pay for the company.

TellApart allows retailers and e-commerce advertisers to target ads across multiple device formats to ensure that audiences can be reached across mobile and desktop devices.

The acquisition will enable Twitter to provide advertisers with better ways to deliver dynamic product adverts and email marketing, while extending TellApart’s service on an international scale.

4. Advertising Remains Twitter’s Dominant Source of Revenue

money-wad-dollar

Twitter is exploring other ways to create revenue streams, but advertising continues to represent the vast majority of its revenues. Advertising brought in $388 million of the $436 million in total income during the quarter.

This equated to a 72 percent year-on-year increase for the quarter, indicating that advertising for Twitter shows no signs of slowing down.

Mobile advertising in particular is driving Twitter’s income, contributing 89 percent of the firm’s advertising revenue.

5. Twitter Has a Growing User Base

twitter-mobile-2015

Twitter users grew by 18 percent during the quarter compared with the same period last year.

The company boasted an active monthly user rate of 302 million. Around 80 percent of users access Twitter through mobile devices, indicating the importance of maintaining a strong user experience on mobile platforms.

6. Still “Early Days” for New Twitter Products

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo

Twitter products, such as direct response advertising, native video, and direct messaging, many not have yielded strong results for the company, but Costolo said that this is just the beginning of its product-based strategy.

“It is still early days for these products, and we have a strong pipeline that we believe will drive increased value for direct response advertisers in the future,” he said.

“We remain confident in our strategy and in Twitter’s long-term opportunity, and our focus remains on creating sustainable shareholder value by executing against our three priorities: strengthening the core, reducing barriers to consumption, and delivering new apps and services.”

Doubtless the acquisition of TellApart will give Twitter some ability to pursue its long-term strategy.

7. Periscope Has More Than 1 Million Users Already

Periscope

Costolo revealed in the earnings call accompanying the results that the Twitter-owned Periscope app passed the million user mark 10 days after launch.

This growth is impressive, but there is no guarantee that Twitter can maintain Periscope’s momentum, and Costolo declined to comment any further about the app’s user base.

This article was originally published on V3.

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