10 min read
Alina Taher - Sep 9, 2019

Instagram: Key Global Statistics 2019

Since its launch in 2010, Instagram has experienced impressive growth and performance numbers. Thanks to Facebook’s acquisition of the visual-sharing platform in 2012, they have been able to remain amongst the top social network platforms worldwide. This merger forced Snapchat to accelerate their development to offer features to compete with IGTV and InstaStories, in a bid to encourage more active users.

 

Despite this, Instagram is one of the most important and influential social networks today for both brands and consumers. With a growing number of users (more than 1 billion monthly active users), Instagram continues to grow rapidly

 

This article summarizes:

  • Instagram figures around the world
  • Instagram for brands and companies
  • Influencer engagement rates on Instagram
  • Instagram's financial results
  • The development of Instagram Stories
  • The rise of video content
  • How Instagram feeds the F&B industry
  •  How Instagram has changed luxury marketing

Instagram Figures Around the World

Users, Time Spent, and Age Statistics

  • Instagram has seen an exponential growth in its number of users. In 2019, the platform announced they had more than 1 billion monthly active users (MAU). In September 2017, this number was over 800 million users, which doubled from 2015.
  • There are over 500 million daily active users on Instagram worldwide (DAU).
  • Every month, half of the users on Instagram use the Explore tab to discover new content and accounts to follow.
  • 80% of Instagram users reside outside the US. The countries with the most users are the USA (110 million), Brazil (66 million), India (64 million), and Indonesia (56 million).
  • 4.2 billion likes are exchanged every day on Instagram.
  • Instagram users spend 53 minutes a day on the platform, compared to an average of 58 minutes a day on Facebook. 

1,1 milliard d’utilisateurs actifs mensuels sur Instagram en 2019

↑ 1.1 billion monthly active users on Instagram in 2019 (TechCrunch)

 

Age

  • 71% of Instagram users are Millennials or Gen Z (under 35 years old)
  • 25-34 year-olds are the most present on the network (32%), just ahead of the 18-24 age group (31%)
  • 51% of users are women
  • 15% of Instagrammers are women between 18 and 24 years old. 16% are men aged 18-24

Accounts with the most subscribers

  • Instagram takes the lead of the account with the most subscribers, with 306 million subscribers.
  • Aside from Instagram, personal accounts with the most followers are:
    • Cristiano Ronaldo with 175 million followers
    • Ariana Grande with 159 million followers
    • Selena Gomez with 153 million followers

Top social platforms by active users

Instagram Blog Infographic (1)

 

Instagram for Brands and Companies

  • There are more than 25 million professional Instagram profiles worldwide. 
  • More than 2 million advertisers worldwide use Instagram to share their brand story, connect with online communities, and generate business results.
  • More than 200 million Instagrammers interact with at least one professional profile every day. 80% of accounts follow at least one company on Instagram.
  • According to a study conducted by Facebook IQ, Instagram helps 80% of consumers make a decision before purchasing a product or service. 83% of the surveyed Instagrammers said they discover new products and services on Instagram.
  • Monitoring these interactions and understanding them through social listening is critical for brands to connect effectively with their audience.

 

Influencer Engagement Rates on Instagram

Average Engagement on Instagram

Due to the growing number of users and corporate profiles on Instagram along with the introduction of new content discovery algorithms, the average engagement rate for content on Instagram has dropped over the past years.
  • Ad engagement ratio rates:
    • 4% in 2016
    • 2.4% in 2019
  • Organic post engagement rates:
    • 4.5% in 2016
    • 1.9% in 2019


2019 sees a decrease in instagram enagagement rates

 

Understanding Engagement Rates on Instagram

The bigger the community of an Instagrammer, the lower the engagement rate. Instagrammers with smaller communities tend to know their followers more personally, therefore encouraging more comments and likes than larger communities, where there is lesser of a personal connection. 

 

The ratio of likes to followers on Instagram peaks at around 1,000 subscribers, after which it decreases as an Instgrammer’s followers hit the 10,000-100,000 mark. It then stabilizes at 100,000+ followers. The comment rate follows the same trend. According to these statistics, the ideal community size to achieve a good reach/engagement rate would fall within the 10,000 to 100,000 follower range. 

 

That being said, the 2018 algorithm change had a favorable impact on the engagement of all types of Instagrammers, with the exception of those targeting a community greater than 100,000 followers. The algorithm considers six factors (interest, recency, relationship, frequency, following, usage) to prioritize which posts users will see on their feed.



Instagram Like and Comment Rates by # of Followers

↑The ratio of likes and comments of micro-influencers averages 8% against 1.8% for macro-influencers
(over a million subscribers).
Source: Markerly

 

 

Influencers and Brands

The number of posts made by influencers doubled between 2016 and 2017, hitting a little more than 1.5 million posts worldwide.

 

The L2 firm studied 5,073 influencers mentioned by 922 brands on Instagram. They categorized these influencers by type and determined an average engagement rate. Of the population studied, ambassadors (0 - 5k followers) made up 26%, and micro-influencers (5 to 25K followers, according to their scale) represented 23%, with an average engagement rate of 4%.

 

Types of Influencers on Instagram and their Engagement Rate

↑  Influencer types on Instagram and their engagement rates

 

Bonus: Download our guide on Micro-Influencer Marketing to learn more about leveraging different influencer types! 

Harness the power of micro-influencers for your brand! Download our guide.

 

Top 3 Industries that Work with Instagram Influencers

Brands from the luxury, sportswear, and beauty industry are the 3 top industries which work with influencers on Instagram. In fact, 91% of luxury brands include Instagram influencers as part of their marketing and communications strategy.

% of brands working with Instagram influencers, by sector↑ Brands working with influencers on Instagram, by sector

 

 

Beauty and fashion are the two most dynamic industries on Instagram. The Beauty sector accounts for 32% of interactions and 27% of total posts among all sectors.

Instagram: posts and interactions by sector

↑ Instagram: posts and interactions by sector

 

 

Instagram's Financial Results

  • Instagram’s 2018 revenue was reported at $6.84 billion, and is estimated to grow to more than $12 billion for 2020! 
  • Instagram accounted for 16% of the Facebook group's revenue in 2018, compared to "only" 10.6% in 2017. It could account for nearly 20% of Facebook Inc.'s revenue by 2020.
  • Instagram launched ads in Stories in March 2017. Since its launch, it is estimated to have generated more than $2 billion in revenue in 2019, according to analyst, Nomura Mark Kelley. Kelley estimates that Stories could generate $7.5 billion in advertising revenue for Facebook by 2021, compared to about $750 million last year in 2018.

 

The Development of Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories is used by 500 million people per day. In March 2017, the number of users on Instagram Stories surpassed Snapchat, its direct competitor who spearheaded the concept of videos that disappear after 24-hours. 

rapid adoption of instagram stories

↑  The Rapid Adoption of Instagram Stories from Statista

  • The Instagram Stories usage increased by 21% since March 2018
  • 33% of the most-watched Stories come from brands  
  • 50% of businesses on Instagram across the globe created an average of at least one story in a month.
  • 96% of marketers surveyed in the United States plan to continue using Instagram Stories over the next 6 months
  • Millennials are more likely to watch Stories on Instagram (60%) than on Snapchat (53%) and Facebook (48%), according to the VidMob study.
  • Generation Z favors Snapchat for Stories. 73% of Generation Z's Snapchat audience consumes content via Stories, just ahead of Instagram (70%), and significantly ahead of Facebook (34%).
La croissance des utilisateurs des Stories sur Instagram face à ses concurrents

 ↑The growth of Stories users on Instagram compared to its competitors

 

Instagram Videos

Videos are a major content format on social networks, especially on Instagram:

  • 95 million photos and videos are posted every day
  • 60% of videos are watched with the sound on
  • Every year, the number of videos created every day on Instagram multiplies by 4
  • In one year (2017-2018), there was an increase of 80% in video viewing time.

 

How Instagram Feeds the F&B Industry

On Instagram, food is an extremely popular theme, along with travel, fashion, and cosmetics. 69% of millennials take a picture or video of their food before eating. Both the Facebook and Instagram platforms are highly relevant for capturing this population.

  • Food lovers consume 4 times more content than the average Instagram use. Food fans connect to Instagram an average of 18 times a day.
  • Each month, #food accounts for more than 250 million posts
  • 27% of Internet users on Instagram share food content.
  • 38% of Instagram users view food content.

 

How Instagram Has Changed Luxury Marketing

  • In comparison to the average user, luxury consumers on Instagram are around 35 years old, spend more time on the platform, have double the followers, follow 2.5 times more accounts, and consume 5 times more content.
  • 55% of Instagrammers in the United Kingdom and United States subscribe to luxury brand’s feeds to find inspiration, stay on top of trends, and discover the latest luxury products.
  • 51% of Instagrammers worldwide subscribe to celebrities to see the latest luxury brands they wear.
  • 67% of global luxury consumers on Instagram use the platform to discover new destinations
  • 52.2% of earned media for Asia Pacific fashion brands are on Instagram

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Sources : Newsroom Facebook, Instagram Business,  Facebook Inc., Techcrunch, Julie Pellet-Instagram, Julie Bogaert-Facebook, Digimind, Bloomberg Intelligence., Reech, Laurent Solly pour le JDD, Edison Research,  Reech, InfluencerDB, Influence4You, Markerly, SocialBakers, L2 Gartner, Business Insider, Médiamétrie et Médiamétrie//NetRatings, InfluenthStories, #BornSocial Agence Heaven , Recode,  Statista, VidMob

 

 

Written by Alina Taher

With a background in consumer economics, marketing, and international business, Alina is a Digiminder passionate about global market insights. In her free time, you can find her reading historical fiction or re-watching old star trek episodes.