Instagram’s monthly advertisers top 500,000

Photo-sharing service cites launch of business tools as reason

Instagram announced that it has more than 500,000 active monthly advertisers on the platform, more than doubling its advertiser base in the last six months.

Additionally, in the two months since the photo-sharing social networking service launched tools for businesses to let users add contact information, including their industry and address, to their profile, more than 1.5 million businesses converted to a business profile on Instagram.

“Alongside one of the fastest growing communities, we’ve built a rapidly expanding and global business,” said James Quarles, vice president of monetisation at Instagram.

“With over 500,000 advertisers, we’re proving that Instagram is a place where inspiration sparks meaningful action for businesses, from finding new customers to driving sales.”

Amy Cole, head of brand development at Instagram EMEA, said that businesses are looking for ways to stand out to customers. Business say they want to know if what they are doing on Instagram is working and drive business objectives on mobile phones.

Joy Ajlouny, co-founder and creative director of Fetchr, said: “We started advertising on Instagram around a year ago and have found it to be a great platform to effectively reach our 25 to 35 year-old target audience in the Middle East.”

Brands have always been a core part of the Instagram community, which earlier this year hit 500 million people globally. “Small businesses have been a key part of the Instagram community since the start ... That is because Instagram makes it easy to connect with a relevant audience, anywhere in the world when they’re in a key mindset of discovery,” Cole said.