Facebook’s photo-sharing service, Instagram, announced that it now has over 1 million active advertisers on its platform.
Instagram’s vice president for business, James Quarles, said in a phone interview this week that the number of advertisers has grown five-fold from 200,000 a year ago. He called the 1 million number a “milestone.”
“Businesses are drawn to Instagram because it’s a place where people follow passions, everything from mainstream interests, like their favorite musician, to niche hobbies like candy art.”
“Many small businesses don’t have a website or the traffic to sustain a separate place for booking.They just want to have that as part of their Instagram experience. We’re just getting started in building the tools businesses would like to find customers and get people to stores.”
Instagram is expected to generate $3.64 billion in advertising revenue globally this year, according to forecasting firm eMarketer. By comparison, Facebook generated $8.81 billion in revenue in its latest quarter. Instagram’s ad business has grown rapidly since the company first started selling advertisements in late 2015, buoyed by Facebook’s network of more than 4 million advertisers and its expertise in sales and targeting.
