Instagram overtakes Facebook for the first time in audience size
Socialbakers publishes a comprehensive report on current social media trends based on data from the 50 largest brand profiles from the fourth quarter of 2019. The data shows that Instagram is overtaking Facebook for the first time in terms of audience size and that the female gender is interacting more actively with brand profiles. In addition, the data shows a growing popularity of vertical videos and further increases in ad spend and influencer marketing activity.
"It was already predictable, but now it's official: if you look at the top 50 biggest brand profiles, they reach a larger audience on Instagram than on Facebook," Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO of Socialbakers, said in a statement sent out on the occasion of the study. "This trend is not a surprise. What was unexpected, however, was the relative decline in engagement during the holidays in Q4. This can be interpreted as a warning signal: Brands need a deeper understanding of what type of content works for their audience, and agile methods to play that content out appropriately for their audience."
Key findings from the report:
Instagram beats Facebook in audience size & engagement
Based on the 50 largest brand profiles worldwide, there was a notable change in the fourth quarter of 2019: For the first time, Instagram is reaching a larger audience than Facebook. In addition, the top 50 brands recorded nearly 20 times more interactions on Instagram than on Facebook. Although brands generally published more posts on Facebook, the engagement of these posts did not reach the numbers achieved on Instagram.
Commitment: Surprising decline
The relative interaction rate on Instagram and Facebook was lower in Q4 2019 compared to Q4 a year earlier. The top industry on Instagram, Fashion, also saw a decrease of 19.4% in relative interaction rate in Q4 compared to Q3 2019, while E-commerce, the leading industry on Facebook, shrank by 9.6%. On the other hand, the big winner in terms of interaction rate was the Services category, with an increase of 66.7% on Instagram.
Vertical videos are preferred
Marketers often wonder whether viewers prefer horizontal or vertical videos. Currently, about 70 percent of all videos on Facebook brand pages have a horizontal format. However, Socialbakers' Q4 data shows that vertical videos are better received on said Facebook brand pages. Videos that are no longer than 30 seconds are watched to completion in a vertical format by 29.9% of viewers, while horizontal videos are watched to completion only 22.2% of the time.
Women act more often with brand profiles
Women make up 58% of brand profile fans on Instagram and are the majority in every age group. On Facebook, women account for 56.7% of brand profile fans, with slightly more men in the 18-24 age group. Within the marketing-relevant target group of 25- to 34-year-olds, women are overall the largest group interacting with brand profiles.
Ad Spend: Instagram catches up, Facebook remains leader
With 58.3% of total spend, Facebook Feed remains the most popular ad channel. As in previous quarters, ad spend on Instagram Stories increased rapidly in Q3, and in the second half of 2019, 10% of total spend was spent on Instagram Stories for the first time. Overall, Instagram Stories ad spend increased 40% last year and 91% in the last two years. Other ad spend trends include Instagram Explore and Facebook Marketplace. In the first five months after launch, the percentage of ad spend on Instagram Explore increased to 1,32%. Facebook Marketplace ad spend increased from 0.72% in December 2018 to 1.31% at year-end 2019, representing more than 80 percent growth.
Influencer marketing: no sign of slump
An unchanged trend remains the explosive influencer marketing growth. In Q4 2019, the number of influencers using the hashtag #Ad (or its local language equivalent) in their posts increased by 90.5 percent. Walmart's Instagram profile recorded a total of 854 mentions from 619 influencers in Q4 2019, continuing to lead the way in influencer marketing.
Methodology of the report
The quarterly industry reports reflect the status of the Socialbakers database at the beginning of the quarter following the quarter of the reports. Data is collected once and not updated between releases. The threshold for the report to be generated is 50 profiles on Instagram and 50 Facebook Pages for the particular region and category combination. If a particular combination does not meet the threshold, data will be provided for a coarser analysis where possible.
About Socialbakers
Socialbakers is the trusted social media management partner for thousands of enterprises and SMBs. Leveraging the industry's largest social media data base, Socialbakers Social Media Marketing Suite helps brands large and small ensure that their social media investments deliver measurable business results. With over 2,500 customers in 100 countries, Socialbakers is the leading social media management platform. Socialbakers has been a Facebook Marketing Partner since 2011, Pinterest Marketing Partner since 2017, and LinkedIn Marketing Partner since 2017.
The complete report (PDF) with supporting graphics can be found at here on view.
