Instagram Becomes a Force for Mobile App Advertising (Report)

adweek.com

Brands that tested the waters of Instagram advertising in its early days were rewarded for their efforts, according to a new report from Kenshoo.

The Facebook Marketing Partner found that advertisers’ share of clicks and application installs through advertising on Instagram in the fourth quarter of 2015 exceeded their shares of total ad spending, with clicks, installs and ad spend all demonstrating “considerable improvement” during the past two quarters.

Kenshoo found that app install ads on Instagram delivered more than 20 percent of all app install ad clicks during the fourth quarter of 2015.

Instagram also compared favorably with its parent company, as Kenshoo found that Instagram ads “consistently” cost less than Facebook ads, while delivering “nearly identical” click-through rates.

Kenshoo’s overall findings for mobile app advertising in the fourth quarter of 2015 included:

• Total spending jumped 155 percent year-over-year, while mobile app installs soared 196 percent during the same time period, leading to a 14 percent drop in cost per install.
• Impressions were up 187 percent year-over-year.
• Clicks skyrocketed by 280 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 versus the year-ago period.
• Cost per thousand impressions (CPMs) slipped 11 percent year-over-year.
• Cost per click fell 33 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with the fourth quarter of 2014.
• CTRs rose 32 percent year-over-year.

Kenshoo director of marketing research Chris Costello said in a release introducing the report:

Marketers have embraced the influx of new ad types, publishers and tools to tailor their mobile app campaigns for success, but the evolution of the ecosystem is just beginning. Incorporating additional elements of the app experience, like in-app engagement and lifetime value, are the next steps for marketers in optimizing app campaigns to their specific goals and maximizing the app marketing opportunity.