Instagram’s Now Capturing Almost 1 in 5 Ad Dollars Spent Across Facebook Properties

May 7, 2019

This article is included in these additional categories:

Advertising Trends | Creative & Formats | Social Media | Spending & Spenders

When Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion, many were shocked at the price paid for a company that only had 13 employees. Today, that investment appears to be a very wise decision, and the latest figures from Marin Software show that the image-centered social network accounts for 19.5% of Facebook’s ad spend among its clients.

A separate report [download page] from Merkle provides weight to this figure. It estimates that Instagram accounts for 19% of ad dollars spent across Facebook’s properties, along with more than one-quarter (27%) of the total impressions but a lower proportion of clicks (15%).

Compared to its parent social network Facebook, which has suffered from trust issues, social media users seem positive about brands on Instagram. Research from Facebook IQ shows that almost 9 in 10 Instagram users claim they have taken some kind of action after seeing a product ad, while one-third had become more interested after seeing a product via Instagram Stories.

As a format, Stories are attracting a lot of attention, both from advertisers and from social media users. Marin’s data shows a slight decrease in terms of the percentage of Instagram ad spend that goes towards Stories, with Q1 2019 seeing 34% of Instagram budgets allocated this way (down from 36% in Q4 2018). The latest earnings call [PDF] from Facebook revealed that 3 million advertisers had used Stories ads across Facebook products.

Outside of Instagram, short-lived videos are also one of the key formats of Snapchat (which, for the time being, holds its place as the favored social network of teens) and the fast-rising social network TikTok.

Other key Facebook averages from Marin Software’s data, which is based on the performance seen in longer-term clients, include:

  • The CPM on Facebook’s properties averaged $3.16 in Q1 2019, down from $3.42 in Q4 2018 and $4.31 in Q3 2018.
  • The average click-through rate (CTR) was 1.45% in Q1 2019, up from 1.17% in the previous quarter.
  • Cost-per-click (CPC) fell to $0.23, down from a high of $0.29 in Q3 and Q4 of 2018.

About the Data: Data from Marin Software is based on aggregated data from Marin Software customers who invest billions of dollars in combined annualized as spend on paid search, social, mobile and e-commerce and who have been active on Marin’s platform for the past 5 quarters.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

9 in 10 RevOps professionals view data analysis skills as being important, a high percentage also don’t believe they need this skill for their job.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This