Instagram Grows Both Its User And Advertise Base

Instagram’s user base is nearing one billion users after it doubled the number of users in two years to reach a figure of 700 million. The number of active advertisers on Instagram also increased from half a million in September last year to one million.

The growth has been attributed to new features, some of which were cloned from SnapChat. This includes the Stories feature. Also contributing to the growth is a simplified joining process as well as improved performance on cheap Android smartphones. This includes a feature which allows the platform to be used in offline mode.

Daily active users

The number of daily active users on Instagram is 400 million and this number either accesses the platform on a mobile device app or the website. But unlike Snapchat, the biggest proportion of Instagram users are located outside the U.S. which suggests the platform has a high global appeal.

“Developing markets have always been important at Instagram. U.S. is our biggest market, but Brazil has long been our No. 2. Along with the U.K. and Japan, our other big markets include Indonesia, India and Turkey,” said a spokesperson for Instagram.

Faster rate of growth

Instagram’s growth rate has been accelerating as more and more users sign up. Since it reached 600 million members in December last year, it has taken Instagram only four months to add another 100 million. When this is compared to its early days, it took Instagram 28 months to reach 100 million users after launching. The next 100 users were signed up in the next 13 months. Thereafter it took 9 months to add another 100 million users and then half a year to lure the next 100 million.

If the trend continues it might take a shorter time to add another 100 million users and therefore increasing the odds that it will hit the 1 billion mark in the next one year and join other Facebook properties such as Messenger and WhatsApp which already boast of more than one billion members.

Threat to Snapchat

Given that a feature like Instagram Stories has garnered daily active users numbering over 200 million, the fact of Instagram cloning features from Snapchat seems to have paid off. This contrasts with the 161 million daily users that Snapchat boasts of. A messaging feature known as Direct which was also cloned from Snapchat has also reached a figure of 375 million users per month. That the growth of Instagram is coming at the expense of Snapchat is clear since growth on the latter fell by 82% when Instagram launched Stories.