Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, reported stronger than expected revenue in the third quarter of 2025.
The company said revenue from April-June rose 22 percent from last year to $47.5bn (£35.86bn), and profits rose 36 percent to $18.3bn.
Analysts have pinned the use of AI powering the tech giant’s ad business as the reason for the hiked results, which climbed 11 percent in extended trading.
In June this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta would be enabling AI ads, where advertisers can generate and target ads using AI, with full implementation by the end of 2026.
“You don’t need any creative, you don’t need any targeting demographic, you don’t need any measurement – except to be able to read the results that we spit out.” Zuckerberg said when the new offering was announced, referring to the fact that users will need little-to-no ad tech or creative know-how.
Spending Money to Make Money
Meta increased its annual capital expenditures forecast by $2 billion, with the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg reassuring analysts that AI was having a major impact on Meta’s ads business.
The tech giant has been spending billions on salaries to entice AI execs from other major players like OpenAI, and building large data centre infrastructure.
One of the company’s primary AI efforts is to create “AI Superintelligence”, also known as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) – a hypothetical AI that can think and learn like a human.
“Meta’s latest results show how AI is increasingly driving tangible improvements in advertising outcomes. From more relevant targeting to higher conversion rates, the success of these AI systems within Meta’s walled garden demonstrates what’s possible when optimisation, data, and delivery are tightly integrated,” says Ben Putley, CEO at blockchain ad exchange Alkimi.
He continues: “For the broader industry, this raises the bar. Advertisers now expect the same level of performance and accountability beyond the major platforms, but without sacrificing transparency. That’s why we believe the next phase of programmatic must prioritise outcome-based trading, real-time measurement, and infrastructure that enables trust across the open web.”
