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Instagram attracts over 200,000 advertisers following global expansion

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By Rebecca Stewart, Trends Editor

February 24, 2016 | 3 min read

Instagram has revealed that over 200,000 brands are using the platform to advertise each month, having noted a mammoth increase since scaling up its advertising at the end of 2015 to push "seamless" integration with sister company Facebook.

Some 75 per cent of the app's active advertisers looking to appeal to Instagram's 400-million strong user base are located outside of the US, according to the company.

Back in June 2015, the image-sharing app was home to just a few hundred advertisers when it announced plans to provide marketers with a new suite of tools to target customers and lift restrictions on who could advertise on the platform.

It finally implemented the new capabilities in September, saying it was fully open to all brands big and small in 30 new markets.

The latest figures place the platform ahead of Twitter in terms of active advertisers, with the latter noting just over 130,000 during its last earnings call at the start of February.

James Quarles, global head of business and brand development at Instagram said the site was "proving a valuable place for discovering businesses around the world."

"It's the 'look book' for brands people love and the shop window for small businesses on mobile. We are excited to welcome 200,000 advertisers to the platform because the more diverse our advertiser base, the more relevant we can make the ads that people see," he added.

While Instagram's open door policy has been popular with brands thus far, an investigation by The Drum into a fake Apple ad that ran on platform raised questions around the legitimacy of some posts.

With paid-for content now available on a self-serve basis the fake ad shone a spotlight on the nature of the firm's premium credentials, but today's statistics note that trust among its user base remains high. The firm reported that 60 per cent of Instagrammers say they learn about products on the site and 75 per cent take action after viewing content.

The photography app has recently turned its attention to small business owners in a bid to bolster its advertising offering — increasing integration between Facebook and Instagram to make targeting users simpler.

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