Many content producers and app developers in emerging markets focus their efforts at monetization in more lucrative markets, not domestically, which has negative effects on domestic content creation and competition. Our analysis of Facebook’s business argues that even with its global scale, the firm is likely not profitable in many of the emerging markets where it is growing its user base, highlighting its reliance on Western markets for most of its revenue. Limited monetization makes it unlikely that ad-supported businesses will be able to reach substantial scale in emerging markets


Explore latest publications