Instagram turned out to be a lucrative investment for Facebook, which bought the photo/video sharing site in 2012 for a billion dollars. It has since garnered 400 million users, and it’s still on the rise. Now a new report from Adotas suggests that it could be putting Twitter to shame.
eMarketer provided numbers indicating that Instagram’s global ad revenue will reach $600 million this year, and will increase even further to $1.5 billion next year and $2.8 billion in 2017. Additionally, its thriving advertising program will enable it to compete, and perhaps outpace, Twitter in terms of both ad revenue and users.
Twitter’s new CEO Jack Dorsey stated that the reason that Twitter may be lagging behind is due to the lack of bold product changes. He also cites a lack of discipline within the company, and not giving the employees the clear company vision they deserve.
As for Instagram, it’s on the rise globally, with more than 75% of users living outside of the U.S., including Brazil, Japan and Indonesia, making up a big chunk of the audience.
That said, Twitter isn’t counting itself out, even in the face of Instagram’s meteoric rise. It has plans to launch a new Lightning service for a better handle on live events. Furthermore, Re/Code reports that in spite of recent layoffs within the company, Dorsey has noted that big things will come from the smaller team.
Former Microsoft exec Steve Ballmer, who became the new owner of the Los Angeles Clippers last year, is investing a substantial amount into Twitter (a 4% stake) according to a separate Re/Code report, and he’s not the only one putting a lot of faith and money into the company. Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal invested a five percent stake around the same time.
Good job @twitter,@twittermoments innovation, @jack Ceo, leaner, more focused. Glad I bought 4% past few months. Like @alwaleedbinT move too
— Steve Ballmer (@Steven_Ballmer) October 16, 2015
Whether these big changes can translate to bigger audience numbers has yet to be seen. Now it’s just a matter of seeing what Twitter’s next move will be.
We’ll find out more from the company when it reports its financials on October 27th.