Sector
Communication Services sector explained
Companies that run social networks, search engines, video and music services, games and phone or internet networks. Many offer their main service free and earn from advertising.
Companies we cover
1 company in Communication Services
Meta
METAMeta owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp and sells ads to reach their users. FY2025 revenue was $201.0 billion.
Data depth: RichCovers Q3 FY2026
How companies in this sector earn
How do Communication Services companies make money?
- Social networks and search engines earn most of their money by selling advertising shown to their users.
- Streaming and gaming companies charge subscriptions or sell content and items inside games.
- Phone and internet carriers charge monthly fees for connections and data.
- Running data centers, paying staff and buying or making content are the largest costs.
Who regulates it
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for competition, privacy and consumer protection · Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for phone, cable and broadcast networks · Department of Justice Antitrust Division
What moves results across the sector
- Advertising demand, which rises and falls with business spending.
- Privacy rules and changes to phone operating systems that affect how ads are targeted.
- Spending on data centers and AI, which the companies report as capital expenditure.
Words you'll meet
Key terms
- Daily active users
- The number of people who used a service on an average day, as the company counts them.
- Average revenue per user
- Revenue divided by the number of users, showing how much the company earns from each one.
- Ad impressions
- The number of times ads were shown to users.
- Capital expenditure
- Money spent on long-lasting assets such as servers, data centers and networks.
Last updated Oct 27, 2026.
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