Instagram forecast to hit $71bn revenue by 2024

Instagram is set to recover faster than other social media rivals following Apple’s ATT and a wider weakening of the digital ad market to reach $71bn by 2024, as consumers and brands look to the image-sharing site’s social commerce future. 

WARC Media’s latest Platform Insights report provides an overview of the key datapoints that advertisers need to know about the platform, spanning investment, consumption and performance. The full report – with evidence-based insights on Instagram's challenges and opportunities – is available to WARC Media subscribers.

Why Instagram matters

One of the jewells in Meta’s crown, Instagram has not only remained important but is becoming more influential. Nearly a third (30.4%) of consumers now look to Instagram when searching for brands, according to GWI. As a result, retailers are set to invest $9.1bn in the platform across 2024 alone.

“Buoyed by innovations in AI targeting helping it to offset the impact of ATT and improved monetisation of Reels, it is only a matter of time before Instagram surpasses its Meta stablemate Facebook to become the world’s largest social media platform by ad revenue,” explains Alex Brownsell, head of content at WARC Media. 

What’s happening

WARC Media forecasts quarterly advertising revenues of $17.7bn in Q4 2023, up 25.8% year-on-year, and predicts its global ad revenue to reach $71bn in 2024. 

Following a flat 2022 off the back of a digital advertising slowdown and the ongoing effects of the Apple Ad Tracking Transparency (ATT) measures, which hit Meta’s ability to track campaign performance for clients, the platform is now going from strength to strength. 

Aside from brands spending directly on advertising with Instagram, it remains the most popular platform for influencers (used by 90% of influencers versus the 63% who use TikTok).

“The recovery of Meta’s ad business in 2023 has been one of the most notable media industry stories of the year. Twelve months ago, commentators were warning of a ‘reckoning’ for Big Tech, with platforms like Instagram hurting from signal loss resulting from Apple’s ATT policy, alongside a broader slowdown in digital ad investment,” adds Brownsell.

Reels is key to Instagram’s resurgence

Campaigns on Reels reach nearly twice the audience as those on TikTok, according to data from Emplifi, while nearly a third (30.4%) of consumers turn to Instagram when searching for brands.

According to Emplifi, Reels outperformed all other content types on Instagram, generating 55% more interactions than single-image posts and 29% more interactions than standard video posts.

More on WARC’s Platform Insight reports

Platform Insights: Instagram follows the recent release of Platform Insights: YouTube, a new series of reports exclusive to WARC Media subscribers, which include an overview of platform investments, media consumption and performance insights.