Instagram sees drop in publisher engagement, ad spend

The news: Instagram’s appeal to publishers is waning, with 86% of publisher professionals posting content on the platform in Q3 2024, down from 91% a year ago, per Digiday research. Similarly, publishers’ ad spending on Instagram is decreasing, with 55% purchasing ads in the past month, down from 61% last year.

• Publishers have reduced daily postings on Instagram, with 52% saying they post content daily, down from 69% last year—although weekly postings rose to 45% from around one-third in previous years.
• While by many measures they’re posting less, publishers continue to create original content for Instagram. Some 44% said they invest a little in original content creation for Instagram, up from 39% last year.
• Instagram’s perceived value for driving revenues has fallen, with 38% of publishers deeming it valuable or extremely valuable, down from 47% last year. By contrast, 22% now say Instagram is not very valuable for revenue generation, up from just 7% a year prior.

This follows a Washington Post investigation revealing that news publishers focused on politics are being featured less prominently on Meta’s platforms, with engagement dropping over 50%.

Meta’s loss is Meta’s gain: According to The New York Times, digital news publishers have found a new opportunity with WhatsApp Channels, which allows them to share links and content directly with followers.

Amid declining traffic from Facebook and Google and the threat of generative AI, outlets such as Noticias Telemundo, CNN, and The Financial Times have seen significant growth in audience engagement via WhatsApp Channels, accumulating millions of followers in the process.

Our take: The decline in publisher engagement with Instagram and Facebook reflects changes in how they are valued for branding and revenue generation. Publishers are posting less frequently and spending fewer ad dollars on both platforms as their perceived value diminishes.

• Instagram’s branding value, although still significant, has also dropped, with 68% of publishers finding it valuable or extremely valuable for branding, down from 86% last year.
• Publishers, always sensitive to price, are turning to places like WhatsApp to earn more cost-efficient traffic. But the long-term reliability of such a strategy remains unclear given Meta’s evolving monetization approaches.