Instagram Value Tops $100B

New data shows that Instagram is estimated to be worth more than $100 billion — if it were a stand-alone company. According to Bloomberg, this data marks a 100-fold return for the app, which was purchased by Facebook in 2012.

Instagram could comprise about 16 percent of Facebook’s revenue over the next year, an increase from 10.6 percent last year, according to eMarketer data. Last week, the addition of Instagram television (IGTV) was announced, which will impact future growth. Most of Instagram’s 2018 revenue growth will still likely come from its newsfeed ads as the TV platform is still developing, wrote Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jitendra Waral in a report on Monday (June 25).

The photo-sharing platform reached 1 billion active monthly users earlier this month, which will likely move Instagram revenue past $10 billion over the next year, Waral noted.

One advantage that Instagram has: It’s popular with younger people. Earlier this month, a survey showed that more U.S. teens are using Instagram, YouTube, or Snapchat over Facebook.

A Pew Research Center survey found that 51 percent of U.S. teens, ages 13 to 17, say they use Facebook — a decline from the Center’s last survey of teen social media use in 2014 to 2015. Back then, 71 percent of teens reported being regular Facebook users. Now, in 2018, three online platforms — YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat — are used by sizable majorities of this age group over Facebook.

In addition, last month, Instagram unveiled new features that will help users contact companies and enlist them for goods and services. The tools will also enhance companies’ visibility on Instagram. Instagram said 200 million active Instagrammers visit a business profile each day, and more than 150 million have a conversation with businesses on a monthly basis, the company said.

The features, which are being offered for free, will enable a “better” way for businesses to manage their messages and run operations, with messages that are routed to the main Direct Inbox, rather than the pending folder.