Here's Why Instagram's Demographics Are So Attractive To Brands

Instagram is telling advertisers that early photo ads have generated great results, and that one client, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, reached 9.8 million people in the U.S. aged 18 to 35 in eight days.

Before buying Instagram ads, advertisers need to understand who is on the social network.

Over 90% of the 150 million people on Instagram are under the age of 35, which makes it an attractive platform for many apparel, entertainment, and media brands focused on the 18 to 34-year-old age bracket. Now that Instagram has begun testing ads, it's a good time to dig deeper into its audience. Though it's owned by Facebook, Instagram is a mobile app with distinct demographics.

In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we break down the demographics and usage behavior on all the major social networks. We find that Instagram is largely made up of urban, youthful demographics, with a significant skew towards women. Our report also spotlights the opportunities that lie ahead for Instagram and other social networks, how demographics affect usage patterns, and why some platforms are better for brands than others.

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Here are some of the top statistics on Instagram's users:

• Instagram is agnostic in the smartphone wars: The app's users are neatly divided 50/50 between owners of Android and Apple devices.
• Similar to Pinterest, another photo-heavy platform, Instagram skews heavily toward women; 68% of its users are female, according to Appdata.
• Instagram also leans toward urban users; 17% of U.S. adult residents who live in urban areas use Instagram, compared to only 11% in suburban and rural areas.
• Instagram is about quality not quantity. Instagram accounts for 7% of daily photo uploads among the top four photo-sharing platforms (544 million daily uploads total). So it's not as much of a heavyweight, in volume terms, as some might believe.
• Early data shows that Instagram video attracts more engagement than Instagram competitor, Vine.

In full, the special report:

• Analyzes gender, income, and age statistics for each social network
• Breaks down the best data for Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+
• Includes 16 charts and datasets that provide an in-depth picture of demographics on each of the major social networks
• Discusses mobile activity on social media and its relative weight on each of the platforms
• Looks at daypart statistics to gauge how demographics drives daily activity peaks on each of the networks
• Examines how international the user bases of each social network have become

For full instant access to the report on Social Media Demographics, sign up for a free two week trial subscription to BI Intelligence.