Digital Digest – 25 June
Top 3 Digital News Stories this week
INSTAGRAM HITS 1BN MONTHLY USERS
While Facebook & Snapchat’s growth rates have stagnated, Instagram’s meteoric rise shows no sign of slowing down. Instagram announced this week that the platform has hit 1bn monthly active users, with over 500m using the app every single day. Whilst Facebook is still the cash cow of the family, marketers predict that Instagram is starting to earn its keep – earning an estimated $5.48bn from ad revenue in 2018, making up 28.2% of Facebook’s total mobile ad revenue. As Facebook is declining in popularity among a younger audience, Instagram is proving to be a very important lifeline.
INSTAGRAM LAUNCHES IGTV
It was reported last month that Instagram was testing hour-long vertical video uploads and we’ve finally learned just what this means for content creators. Sitting as a standalone app as well as being accessible from the Instagram home screen, IGTV has been created as a direct challenge to YouTube – it seems to have been well received as Facebook’s share price rose to an impressive $202 after the announcement. Whilst there’s no ads within IGTV yet, it’s only a matter of time before these creep in to allow the brand to gain a return on their investment.
YOUTUBE FIGHTS BACK
Not one to back away from a fight, YouTube has announced new features to allow creators to monetise on their content in a bid to make the platform attractive for creators and prevent them jumping ship to newly announced IGTV. Channels with over 100,000 subscribers will now be able to offer monthly subscriptions offering exclusive content, emojis, badges and perks for a recurring fee of $4.99. There’ll also be the option to add a merchandise ‘shelf’ for these creators to sell their own products. The partnership with Teespring allows brands and influencers to add a shop to their channel selling anything from branded phone cases to shirts.
CHAT TO US
From client case studies to truly Brazen opinions, we have it all. If I’ve sparked your interest or you just want to hear more about how Brazen can help you own the screen on PR and social, reach out to me on samw@wearebrazenpr.com.
Want more information? Contact us here