Instagram recently introduced a brand engagement program to help marketers get the word out about their products on the popular photo/video site and it looks like it’s paying off quite well for consumers.
A report from Digiday indicates that the program is doing incredibly well, even to the point where it’s rivaling Instagram’s parent company Facebook. Some sources indicated that they’re paying a very good rate for its video ads, paying as little as two cents a view.
“CPM’s (cost per thousand views) are averaging close to $3,” said an ad tech source for a firm that works very closely with advertising on Instagram. “It’s been highly efficient compared to marketing on Facebook proper.”
The program, which launched this summer, was only available to a few select brands upon its debut. At that time, Instagram paid close attention to the ads that were submitted, reviewing every sponsored image and video that was turned in.
These days, with the program being more widespread, it’s still paying attention and pushing for some form of creative control, but that hasn’t stopped the number of participating advertisers from coming in, including buy-through partners such as Salesforce and Sprinklr.
Salesforce has stated that its advertisers pay an average CPM of $6.29 higher than the figure above, but still very effective in terms of advertising and price. Another ad partner stated that it sees a $3 fee per 1,000 views, along with videos that range for about two cents a view. (Instagram has similar rules to Facebook when it comes to what makes a video view count, by way of watching it for at least three seconds.)
Overall, fees in general rarely run high with the program. Some advertisers pay as much (or as little, depending on perspective) as six cents a video view.
“The recent buzz around Instagram video ad pricing efficiency is really interesting but I think we shouldn t lose site of the fact that Instagram s true value is the ability to engage audiences,” said Ayzenberg‘s Vincent Juarez.
A lot of sites are investing more in mobile video, but Instagram’s rates enable it to be a true competitor, even with the likes of Snapchat and YouTube.
With that, Instagram has become one of the leaders in premium ad space. Salesforce stated that its ads on the site get double the clicks of Facebook, 1.5 percent compared to .84 percent.
“Facebook and Instagram ad products are evolving and becoming increasingly similar it ll be telling to see how custom audiences, cross-platform retargeting, campaigns through the power editor and auction based pricing will affect video engagement and cost efficiencies,” added Juarez.
As to whether the program will lose its momentum, the unnamed ad partner (speaking on anonymity) stated, “It will be interesting to see whether on average the quality goes down. That’s what you have to look out for.”
Juarez had more to add to this. “In the future, auction based pricing could effectively drive up pricing from my perspective, premiums are acceptable as long as engagement rates are maintained or increased through better placement and targeting,” he said.
