Via theverge.com
The advertising juggernaut posted $60.8 billion in quarterly revenue, powered by AI-driven monetization gains that show no signs of slowing down
Meta just turned in a quarter that makes its already-dominant advertising business look like it found another gear. The company reported Q2 2026 revenue of $60.8 billion, a 28% year-over-year increase, with US average revenue per user climbing 31% to $125.
The numbers behind the surge #
Revenue per hour of user time grew 27% year-over-year, which tells a slightly different story than raw ARPU growth. Meta isn’t just making more money because people are spending more time scrolling. It’s making more money per minute of attention it captures.
Instagram posted a 12% increase in US daily active time, meaning Americans are spending meaningfully more of their day on the platform. Combined with the revenue-per-hour gains, Meta is winning on both sides of the equation: more time spent and more value extracted from each unit of that time.
Instagram crossed 2 billion daily active users globally for the first time. Not monthly actives, which is the gentler metric companies tend to highlight, but daily actives.
Across Meta’s full family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, daily active people averaged 3.60 billion in June 2026. That figure grew 3% year-over-year.
On a constant-currency basis, revenue grew 27% year-over-year, nearly identical to the reported 28% gain. That’s notable because it means currency fluctuations aren’t artificially inflating the headline number.
The earnings were released on July 29, 2026.
What this means for advertisers and competitors #
A $125 US ARPU creates an interesting dynamic in the digital advertising market. At that level, Meta is monetizing American users at a rate that few competitors can match, which gives it pricing power but also raises the bar for what advertisers expect in return.
The Instagram daily active user milestone is particularly significant for brands. Two billion daily users means the platform has achieved a level of global reach that rivals television at its peak, but with the targeting precision that traditional media never offered.
The 28% revenue growth rate is also striking given Meta’s sheer size. Growing that fast on a base that already exceeded $40 billion in quarterly revenue a year ago requires capturing significant new advertising budgets.
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