The $20 billion reason why Facebook ‘likes’ Instagram

NEW DELHI: Photo-sharing app Instagram has generated more than 25% of Facebook’s revenue in the last year, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources. The figure is close to $20 billion through advertising revenue which is over a quarter of Facebook’s overall 2019 revenue.
Since Facebook in its quarterly reports never discloses the revenue it earned from Instagram it is hard to say how much jump this year’s figures represent.
When it comes to ads in the Instagram app, Bloomberg says that the app had no model for bringing in revenue when it was acquired by Facebook back in 2012 for $715 million. But now after seven years, the app shows ads the same way as Facebook does — by making ads appear similar to regular posts in the main feed and also pushing them through Instagram Stories. The report also notes that the increased frequency of ads on Instagram has helped “bolster the company’s sales as Facebook’s news feed becomes more saturated with marketing posts.”