Instagram to begin hosting adverts in the US
Instagram is seeking to grab a slice of the estimated $9.52bn which advertisers will pump into the likes of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook this year by launching an ad platform of its own.
The move will see Instagram, now owned by Facebook, begin to place ads in the photo streams of US users but it insists users will continue to retain ownership of their snaps.
According to eMarketer some 8.1 per cent of digital ad budgets are now accounted for by social media, a rise of 30.5 per cent on last years $7.29bn.
In tandem with this growth eMarketer predicts mobile advertising will continue to grow rapidly, rising 89 per cent globally this year to reach $8.8bn, up from just $4.02bn last year.
The lion’s share of global mobile ad revenues continues to be Google which increased its slice of the cake to 53.17 per cent in 2013, up from 52.36 per cent a year earlier.
Facebook was the fastest riser over all though, dramatically boosting its share from 5.35 per cent last year to 15.8 per cent this year.