The #nofilter picture looks bright for Instagram after its recent introduction of new ad formats, according to a report from research firm eMarketer.
The report predicts Instagram’s worldwide ad revenue will reach US$600 million this year, with “rapid growth” in the next two years pushing it to US$1.48 billion in 2016 and US$2.81 billion in 2017.
EMarketer predicts Instagram’s share of parent company Facebook’s worldwide mobile revenue will grow from 5% this year to 14% by 2017. In the U.S., it is expected to account for 10.7% of Facebook’s mobile ad revenue.
The report suggests Instagram will have just US$30 million in non-U.S. ad revenues this year, with the U.S. accounting for 92% of its total revenues in 2016 and 85% in 2017.
Instagram has 300 million monthly active users worldwide, with more than 70% of its user base located outside of the U.S. In the U.S., its monthly user base increased nearly 60% to 64.2 million last year, according to eMarketer estimates, pushing it past Twitter to become the country’s second largest social network.
Its U.S. user base is expected to grow an additional 20.9% to 77.6 million this year, the report notes.
According to App Promo, BrandSpark and Tapped Mobile’s 2015 Mobile Personas Report, the Instagram app is regularly used by 39% of Canadian mobile millennials, compared with 31% for Twitter.
Facebook is the industry leader at 74%, followed by weather apps (67%), games and maps (56%) and YouTube (55%).
