BOSTON, Aug. 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brand Networks, the company recently named a “Leader” in Social Advertising Technology by independent analyst firm Forrester Research, today released the findings of a study analyzing 36 months of data and examining more than 44 billion Instagram ad impressions served on behalf of the company’s customers. The report, which looks at advertising trends from June 2015 to July 2018, reveals Instagram’s stunning growth since the launch of its Ads API, its price stability over time, and the rise of video-based content on the platform.
“Brand Networks is one of the few companies that’s had access to Instagram’s Ads API since it first launched back in 2015,” said Dave Fall, CEO of Brand Networks. “This means we have the historical knowledge to chronicle Instagram’s growth and benchmark performance. In this analysis, we have uncovered valuable insights with the goal of informing advertisers about how best to utilize Instagram. Brand Networks has evolved alongside this high-performing channel, and we have witnessed the rapid adoption of new formats like Stories and the rising consumer appeal of video on Instagram. We’re excited to see Instagram continue to boom and become an increasingly important tool for advertisers.”
In 2016, Brand Networks conducted the inaugural Instagram advertising research report — Instagram Ads: A Picture of Growth — to detail the platform’s first steps into API-based advertising. Since then, Instagram’s ad offerings have advanced significantly. This report determines just how vast Instagram’s presence in the advertising industry has become, and measures the weight it now carries in advertisers’ budgets.
Key Findings
Instagram Ad Spending Has Skyrocketed
Instagram investment through Brand Networks has ballooned since the introduction of advertising on the platform in 2015. Instagram ad spend increased nine-fold between 2015 and 2017, with a growth rate of at least 57 percent each year; and this is just the beginning.
With various options for advertisers, including Instagram Stories ads, in-app payments, and shopping tags, the platform has ushered in a new era of Instagram advertising with an abundance of business-centric capabilities. With these enhancements, Brand Networks projects that impressions will grow more than 80 percent between 2017 and 2018, with increased spend to follow.
Video Is the Uncontested Creative Format on Instagram
Video remains the shining star on Instagram. The platform’s immersive video ads and features keep users engaged, and consuming video is a mainstay activity.
Instagram’s CPMs Are Holding Steady
While demand increased, the same can’t be said for cost-per 1,000 impressions (CPM). Average CPM has mostly held steady. Overall, Brand Networks witnessed a small increase in average CPMs in 2017, but is observing a return to 2016 norms in 2018. Combined, price stability and increased spend are an indicator that the increased investment in Instagram is not reflective of price inflation, but rather, an increase in demand from the market.
Overall, advertisers are flocking to Instagram. The channel continues to demonstrate an ability to help advertisers reach their business objectives, and can be relied upon to deliver high performance and stable price efficiency at scale, across a broad range of industries and advertising goals.
About Brand Networks
Brand Networks offers advertising optimization and insights combining paid social media, programmatic display, and video. Brand Networks delivers award-winning adtech and managed media services to hundreds of enterprise customers, including 81 of the AdAge 100 Leading National Advertisers and 14 of the 25 top US companies as ranked in the Fortune 500. The company leverages Iris by Brand Networks, the first AI-based platform for social advertising, and the Tapad Device Graph™, which powers the company’s Digital Activation services, to deliver unified digital advertising experiences for customers worldwide. Brand Networks was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Boston with offices in San Francisco, New York City, Rochester, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, and Sydney. For more information, please visit bn.co.
Media Contact
Lindsay Rand
bn@launchsquad.com
(617)-945-1915