Digiday+ Research Deep Dive: Instagram loses value in the eyes of publishers

That’s according to Digiday+ Research surveys conducted among publisher professionals every summer since 2021.

Digiday’s surveys found that Facebook doesn’t rate as high with publishers as it did in the past — which is in line with last year’s results, so no surprise there. The bigger surprise was actually that publishers’ usage and ad spend on sibling platform Instagram has fallen this year, after it looked like publishers were off and running on the platform last year.

Eighty-six percent of publisher pros told Digiday in Q3 of this year that their titles posted content on Instagram in the past month — which is admittedly a large percentage. But it’s a drop from the 91% who said the same last year, and a return to the percentage of publishers who were using Instagram in 2022, marking a significant step back.

Publishers’ ad spend on Instagram is exhibiting a similar pattern: 55% of publisher pros said this year that their titles purchased advertising on the platform in the past month, which is down from 61% last year. And in 2022, just 46% of publishers were purchasing ads on Instagram, so 2023’s 61% represented a big jump — making this year’s fall just that much harder.

Facebook, on the other hand, has been losing value among publishers for a while, according to Digiday’s surveys. Publisher pros’ usage of the platform held steady over the last year, with 91% saying both in 2024 and 2023 that their titles posted content on Facebook in the past month. But that’s down from the 99% who said the same in 2022 and 95% in 2021.

Ad spend on Facebook has been falling steadily since 2022, Digiday’s surveys found. In 2022, three-quarters of publisher pros (75%) said their titles purchased advertising on the platform in the past month, before falling slightly to 73% in 2023 and falling more significantly to about two-thirds (67%) this year.

Publishers’ patterns when it comes to usage and ad spend on Meta’s social giants are reflected in how often the group is posting content on both Facebook and Instagram, Digiday’s surveys found, with publishers seemingly shifting their posting frequency on both platforms from daily to weekly.

Following our findings from last year, the percentage of publishers who post content on Facebook every day continues to fall: Two-thirds of publisher pros (66%) said in Q3 2024 that their companies post content on Facebook every day, down from 73% in 2023, 74% in 2022 and 85% in 2021. Meanwhile, just over a third of publishers (34%) said this year that they post on the platform about once a week, up from about a quarter in 2023 and 2022 (23% and 24% of publishers, respectively) and just 13% in 2021.

The percentage of publishers who were posting on Instagram every day looked as though it were trending upward as of last year, with 64% of publisher pros saying in both 2021 and 2022 that their companies posted content on Instagram every day, and 69% saying the same in 2023. However, this year, that percentage fell to just over half, with 52% of publishers saying they post on Instagram daily. At the same time, the percentage of publishers who said they post on the platform about once a week jumped to 45% this year, after holding steady at around one-third from 2021 to 2023.

Interestingly, though, publishers are still investing in creating original content for both Facebook and Instagram, according to Digiday’s surveys.

The percentage of publishers who don’t invest at all in creating original content for Facebook fell from just under a third (32%) last year to one-fifth (20%) this year. And the percentage of publisher pros who told Digiday their companies invest a moderate amount rose from 21% last year to 27% this year. What’s more, the percentage of publishers who said they invest a lot in creating original content for Facebook rose from 14% last year to 20% this year. (Although this year’s percentage is still less than the 26% who said they were investing a lot in original content for Facebook in 2022.)

The highest percentage of publishers told Digiday that they invest just a little in creating original content for Instagram. Forty-four percent of publisher pros said this in Q3 2024, which is a rise from the 39% who said the same a year prior.

Digiday’s survey found that the reason behind Facebook’s downward trending stats with publishers and Instagram’s about-face might have to do with how publisher pros see the platforms when it comes to driving revenues and branding. Put simply: Publishers see both Facebook and Instagram as less valuable this year compared with years past.

The percentage of publisher pros who told Digiday last year that Facebook was valuable or extremely valuable to driving their companies’ revenues had actually seen a big jump from 2022 — 52% of publishers said in 2023 that the platform held value for driving revenues, up from 38% in 2022. But this year, publishers pulled back, with 46% saying Facebook is valuable or extremely valuable to driving their revenues. At the same time, the percentage of publisher pros who said Facebook is only somewhat or not very valuable to driving revenues increased from 37% last year to 45% this year.

It’s worth noting here that most publishers find Facebook at least a little valuable to driving their revenues. Just 10% said this year that the platform is not valuable at all. But the percentage of publishers who find Facebook to be extremely valuable to driving revenues did fall significantly from 19% last year to 10% this year.

When it comes to branding, almost all publishers see Facebook as at least a little valuable — a meager 3% of publisher pros told Digiday this year that the platform isn’t valuable at all for branding. But similar to the platform’s value for driving publishers’ revenues, its value when it comes to publishers’ branding is down this year.

Fifty-two percent of publisher pros said this year that Facebook is valuable or extremely valuable for branding, down from 62% last year and 66% the year before. And 40% said this year that the platform is only somewhat or not very valuable, up from 35% in 2023 and 31% in 2022.

And just like in the revenue category, the percentage of publishers who see Facebook as being extremely valuable for branding took a big hit this year: Just 20% of publisher pros told Digiday in Q3 2024 that Facebook is extremely valuable for branding, down from 35% in 2023.

After being on the rise through last year, the percentage of publisher pros who told Digiday Instagram is valuable for driving their companies’ revenues fell significantly this year. Last year, 47% of publishers said Instagram was valuable or extremely valuable for driving revenues, up from 39% in 2022 and 27% in 2021. This year, 38% of publisher pros said Instagram is valuable or extremely valuable.

And the percentage of publishers who said Instagram is just somewhat or not very valuable for driving revenues is up this year. Exactly half of publisher pros (50%) said this year that the platform is just somewhat or not very valuable, up from 43% last year. Specifically, the percentage of publishers who said Instagram is not very valuable for driving revenues saw a big jump — from just 7% last year to 22% this year.

All publishers agree that Instagram is at least a little valuable when it comes to branding — zero respondents to Digiday’s survey this year said the platform is not valuable at all for branding. But even the platform’s value in this category is waning.

The percentage of publisher pros who told Digiday that Instagram is valuable or extremely valuable for branding was trending well upward as of last year, from 64% in 2021, to 76% in 2022 and hitting 86% in 2023. This year, that percentage fell to 68%. Meanwhile, the percentage of publishers who said Instagram is just somewhat or not very valuable is up to a third this year (33%), compared with 11% last year.

Digging further into the data here reveals that both the percentage of publishers who said Instagram is valuable (as opposed to extremely or somewhat valuable) for branding and those who said it’s extremely valuable took big hits this year. Forty-five percent of publisher pros told Digiday this year that Instagram is valuable for branding, down from 54% last year, and 23% said this year that it’s extremely valuable, down from 32% last year.