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State of the Screens

Instagram Will Help Its Stars Make More Money, Taking on YouTube

By June 4, 2020No Comments

Big news #1: 15s pre-roll ads are coming to Instagram’s longer-form video service IGTV.

Why this matters: IGTV is not off to a strong start, and a big part is the lack of monetization options for creators.  All ad revenue is split between Instagram and the creator which should help.

Quick math on IGTV adoption:
1) 1B+ Instagram users
2) IGTV launched 18+ months ago
3) 1.1M app downloads for IGTV
4) 0.1% of Instagram users have downloaded the IGTV app

Ad revenue split for IGTV video ads:
1) 
Creator – 55%
2) 
Instagram – 45%

Big news #2: Custom audience targeting is coming to Facebook Watch.

Why this matters: Facebook can’t hit its revenue targets without significant growth in video advertising.

Key details for Facebook Watch:
1) 
Viewers/month – 720M
2) 
Viewers/day – 140M
3) 26 
minutes per month for the average viewer

BTW: Facebook counts a view once a user watches 60 consecutive seconds of content.

Big news #3: Facebook will use a TV-like currency (targeted rating points) with Facebook Watch video ads.

Quote from Erik Geisler – Director of Agency Partnerships @ Facebook:
“If we’re not delivering TRPs [television rating points], for example, we’re speaking a different language and that makes it hard for an agency to build more expansive plans.”

Social video ad spending by year (% growth) according to eMarketer:
1) 2017 – $5.7B
2) 2018 – $8.2B (↑ 46%)
3) 2019 – $10.7B (↑ 30%)
4) 2020P – $13.0B (↑ 22%)
5) 2021P – $15.3B (↑ 18%)
6) 2022P – $17.8B (↑ 16%)
7) 2023P – $20.4B (↑ 15%)
8) 2024P – $22.4B (↑ 10%)

More #1: Facebook Warned That It May Lose a Key Seal of Approval for Ad Measurement

More #2: Inside Facebook’s bid to woo TV advertisers

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.