Which ads are the most effective on Instagram?
Wibbitz surveyed 1,000 customers to learn more about Instagram usage and concluded that people are more likely to buy something after watching an In-Stream video ad compared with a Stories ad.
According to Wibbitz's latest report, advertisers who want to encourage shopping on Instagram may want to focus on In-Stream video ads rather than Story Ads. The online video editing platform surveyed 1,000 customers in the United States, the United Kingdom and France to obtain a broad cross-section of user behavior on the platform. Of the 1,000 respondents, 73% said they are Instagram users.
In-feed video ads vs. Story Ads.
In-feed video vs. Story Ads
Of the 73% of respondents who said they are Instagram users, 31% said they bought a product directly after watching a video on the platform. Looking into the types of video ads that led to a purchase, 27% of respondents said they bought something directly after watching an In-feed video ad, while only 12% said they did the same after watching a Story video ad on Instagram.
Admittedly, the study covers a fairly small group of Instagram users - fewer than 1,000 people across three countries - but a trend is noticeable: twice as many survey respondents made a purchase after watching In-feed video ads compared with Story ads.
Increasing engagement with the Explore tab.
The Explore tab builds reach
According to the survey conducted by Wibbitz, 26% of surveyed Instagram users said they follow brand accounts discovered through the Explore tab (the section of the app with curated content and business accounts based on the user's interests) at least once a month. In fact, more than half of the platform's billions of users visit the Explore tab every month - potentially generating measurable engagement.
What videos to publish and when to publish them.
The best format and time to publish
Instructional tutorials were considered the most popular form of video content watched on Instagram. They significantly outpaced the second most popular type of content, which was behind-the-scenes material (80% versus 66%). Among the six most popular video topics, which also included interviews, news and creative inspiration, motivational posts came in last.
Of the 73% of survey respondents who say they use Instagram, 69% said they spend most of their time on the platform watching videos. And most Instagram users (33%) watch the most videos between 8:00 p.m. and 10:59 p.m. In other words, brands seeking engagement on Instagram should invest in more video content and share it later in the evening, when users are more likely to scroll through their feed.
Summary
The Wibbitz report shows that on Instagram, In-feed video ads, rather than Story Ads, are more effective at driving purchases. A total of 27% of those surveyed reported buying after watching them, while for stories it was only 12%. Importantly, 69% of users are most willing to watch videos between 8:00 p.m. and 10:59 p.m., and the most popular format is instructional tutorials.
These data suggest that brands should shift budgets from stories to the main feed and publish materials in the evening. Although the research sample was limited to three countries, the trend indicates a clear advantage for the classic feed in building conversions.
