17 August 2015.
Facebook has admitted that it is struggling to attract advertisers onto its platform in India.
India is Facebook's second biggest market, with 132 million registered users, second only to the US which has 193 million users.
Its problem with advertising becomes clear when comparing the amount of money that Facebook makes in the two markets, however. While the social network makes an average of 8 US dollars per user in the US in advertising revenue, it makes only 15 cents per user in India.
In order to encourage more Indian businesses to advertise on the platform, Facebook is offering features such as free online support for questions regarding advertising.
Earlier this year, it has also launched a new advertising feature especially for India, which allows users to click on an ad to call a business and then hang up before incurring a charge, with the business then calling the user back.
With around 65 small-to-medium sized businesses operating in India, but only 1.5 million of these currently having Facebook pages, the potential for Facebook's advertising business to grow in this market is huge.
Analysts have commented on the issue, saying that the problem Facebook faces is that social media is simply not considered as a marketing tool in the country.
TV advertising remains the preferred method for advertisers, meaning that Facebook need to work to promote itself as a viable competitor if it is to succeed.
