It's that time of the month again when all the companies reveal their previous quarter numbers. Microblogging portal Twitter also joined the list and reported revenue of $758 million in the third quarter of 2018, with monthly active users (MAUs) reaching 326 million. Twitter revenue was up 29% (year-over-year) and advertising revenue reached $650 million. At the same time, a report by Fortune revealed that Twitter lost a whopping nine million users during the quarter, which is the platform's worst quarterly decline ever. While Twitter estimated the subscriber drop of around five million in its earnings report, Fortune stated the number is nine million.
"We're achieving meaningful progress in our efforts to make Twitter a healthier and valuable everyday service," said Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey in a statement late on Thursday. "We're doing a better job detecting and removing spammy and suspicious accounts at sign-up. We're also continuing to introduce improvements that make it easier for people to follow events, topics and interests on Twitter," he added.
The total ad engagements increased 50% year-over-year) and international revenue hit $335 million -- an increase of 30% (year-over-year). "This quarter's strong results prove we can prioritize the long-term health of Twitter while growing the number of people who participate in the public conversation," said Dorsey.
Average daily active users (DAU) increased nine per cent year-over-year, compared to 14% in the same period the previous year. "Our third quarter results reflect our success with advertisers, delivering revenue growth of 29% and better than expected growth across most products and geographies," said Ned Segal, Twitter's CFO.
Talking about the user base reduce, Twitter said it's due in part to the company clamping down on accounts that disseminate spam or use automated bots to try to target legitimate users. Many micro-blogging platform users reported that their follower counts had dropped considerably during one of Twitter's purges. The company expects its user base to continue to shrink as it purges more accounts.
