Meta’s Q3 2026 earnings show an ad business that is still carrying the company — and passing more of the cost of its AI push to advertisers through higher prices. Revenue rose 26% year over year to $64.6 billion, while expenses climbed 68%, driven mainly by capital expenditures.
Family daily active people — the combined daily users of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads — grew by 40 million to 3.64 billion. India is now Meta’s largest single user market, and ad impressions in Asia Pacific have grown 24% this year, per Merca 2.0. Meta also said Threads has overtaken X in monthly active users.
Two numbers matter most for advertisers:
Most of the 68% expense growth is AI infrastructure. Reality Labs, which covers AI glasses and VR headsets, grew revenue only slightly quarter over quarter. Meta is counting on its Muse AI agents to monetize consumer AI, but Muse has faced data exposure reports, and third-party data suggests retention drops sharply two weeks after download — although ChatGPT, Claude and Grok have shown similar drop-offs.
Muse’s own adoption numbers — more than 10 million downloads, with shopping as the top use case — were the other headline of the earnings call, while privacy litigation risk grew with a $25 billion penalty in New Mexico.
Meta had 66,775 employees as of Sept. 30, 2026, down 15% year over year — likely reflecting the company’s shift from human staff to AI tools.
$64.6 billion, up 26% year over year. Expenses rose 68% over the same period, mainly due to AI-related capital expenditures.
Average price per ad rose 14%, while ad impressions grew 10% — a slower rate than recent quarters.
Family daily active people grew by 40 million to 3.64 billion across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads.
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