Report: Instagram Advertising Surges 122%, Amazon Ads Growing 'Very Fast'

Advertising spending on Instagram is surging, according to a digital marketing report by Merkle.

The photo sharing platform saw advertising revenues grow 122 percent year-over-year due to significant increases in both inventory and pricing, according to Merkle.

With strong targeting capabilities and the potential to roll out features such as hashtag follows, which launched last month, Instagram spend will continue to grow meaningfully for the foreseeable future, the report said.

Ads A Growing Part Of Amazon's Revenue 

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN also saw a significant increase in ad spending, posing a potential threat to the juggernaut Alphabet Inc GOOG's Google down the line.

Investment in Amazon’s biggest ad formats, sponsored product ads and headline search ads, saw sequential increases of 64 percent and 75 percent, respectively, in the fourth quarter, according to Merkle. Although product manufacturers have long been reluctant to advertise on Amazon, as it has been seen as a cannibalizing competitor, the platform has become too big to ignore. Sponsored advertising comprised 85 percent of Amazon’s overall ad spend in the fourth quarter.

“Advertising is still a tiny component of Amazon’s revenues, but it is growing very fast,” Mark Ballard, Merkle's director of research, told Benzinga.

“While Google’s shopping remains very strong, if more product search continues to migrate to Amazon, you will see the resistance that product manufacturers have toward advertising on Amazon break over time."

At Twitter, A 44% Increase 

Twitter Inc TWTR is also seeing solid advertising spending, a key catalyst for the company's return to investors' good graces. The social media platform saw advertising spending increase 44 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter as a result of higher click and impression pricing.

Facebook Spend Up, Impressions Down

Facebook, Inc. FB still controls the majority of social media advertising, with 82 percent of all paid social investment spent on the platform — even as impressions for advertisers were down 27 percent in the fourth quarter.

A surprising bright spot? Microsoft Corporation MSFT's Bing search engine saw mobile traffic over seven times higher year-over-year in the fourth quarter. Increases in traffic led to product ad spending growing by 43 percent year-over-year for Bing.

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