Instagram is set to topple its biggest rivals, Twitter and Google, in terms of global mobile ad revenue by 2017, according to a forecast by eMarketer.
The Facebook-owned business hasn't supported advertising for very long, with the business tipped to generate $595 million in mobile ad revenues worldwide this year and over the next few years that is expected to grow exponentially. By 2017, that number is expected to hit $2.39 billion.
Instagram’s monthly US user base increased nearly 60% in 2014 to 64.2 million people, eMarketer estimates. By 2019, over one-third of the country’s population is expected to use the social network, amounting to 111.6 million consumers.
It's not all bad news though for the likes of Twitter and Google, with those businesses too tipped to grow. With eMarketer citing that those businesses global mobile ad revenues will reach 2.29bn and 2.38bn respectively, in 2017.
Instagram brought ads to Australia in September and since then several brands have experienced strong results off the back of running campaigns across the social site.
Mondelez's Philadelphia Cream Cheese saw a 45% year-one-year increase in sales for its pour-over range, and a 10% boost for its heritage brand Sweet-Chilli Philly, off the back of a digitally-lead push utilising Instagram.
The FMCG brand was one of the first advertisers to join the social network and brand manager for Mondelez, Bianca Melky, told AdNews the campaign not only raised brand awareness and purchase intent, but sales also increased off the back of those people who saw the ads.
“Looking at the hard facts of what actually happened in the market over Christmas really supports these results, we did launch some innovation coming into the campaign at a total pour-over level we saw 45% growth in our unit sales vs. a year ago,” Melky said.
Recently fashion retailer The Iconic shunned the traditional medium of TV in favour of more digitally focused channels, off the back of its work with Instagram.
“From a brand marketing perspective, [working with Instagram] has reinforced our hypothesis that traditional media isn't where our consumers are anymore, and there was a bigger opportunity to engage with them in more emerging digital platforms,” MD and co-founder of The Iconic, Adam Jacobs, told AdNews.
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