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Facebook ( FB ) revealed Wednesday that it has more than 200,000 advertisers on Instagram, its video- and photo-sharing site, which began testing ads three years ago. Analysts have kept a close watch on Instagram as a key revenue growth leg for the social media leader, with estimates that revenue from the site could hit $1 billion this year, or about 10% of Facebook’s total. Facebook has been cautious but methodical in rolling out ads on Instagram, as the company says its priority is user experience over revenue. But Facebook has also continued to work with large advertisers and ad agencies. In September, Facebook announced it was boosting efforts to cash in on Instagram with an aggressive expansion of advertising and better analytics and measurement guidelines. It only began introducing video ads on Instagram in Q3 2015. Instagram now has more than 400 million users, up from 300 million last December. Facebook paid about $1 billion to acquire Instagram in 2012. Facebook has about 2.5 million advertisers overall, of which 75% are outside the U.S. Early this month, Facebook announced that it had doubled the length of video ads on Instagram to 60 seconds. Facebook derives more than 96% of total revenue from advertising, with video ads deriving a premium price. Facebook competes with Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Twitter ( TWTR ) and others to attract more advertisers. Facebook is also expected to introduce ads on its messaging platforms, WhatsApp and Messenger, down the road. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in the company’s Q4 earnings call late last month, suggested that ads on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which now has 800 million users, are in the works . Image provided by Shutterstock . Scalper1 News
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