The Facebook-owned social network will generate more than $2.81 billion in worldwide mobile ad revenue in 2017, according to eMarketer estimates. That’s 372% more than the $595 million the research firm projects Instagram will generate this year.

Instagram is set to generate more mobile display ad revenue than Google Inc. and Twitter Inc. within the next few years, according to new projections by research firm eMarketer Inc.

EMarketer expects the Facebook Inc.-owned social network will gross $570 million in U.S. mobile display ad revenue this year and the forecast estimates that its revenue will jump 140.4% next year to $1.37 billion. And in 2017, it will generate $2.39 billion in U.S. mobile display ad revenue, which would be another 74.5% gain.

That means Instagram will surpass Google and Twitter’s U.S. mobile display ad revenue. Those two platforms currently generate far more revenue than Instagram; eMarketer expects Google’s U.S. mobile display ad revenue to be $1.47 billion this year and Twitter’s to be $1.19 billion. By 2017, eMarketer projects Google’s revenue will hit $2.38 billion, just a hair below Instagram’s, and Twitter’s to be $2.29 billion.

Instagram’s worldwide mobile display ad revenue will follow a similar path, growing from $595 million in 2015 to $1.48 billion next year and $2.81 billion in 2017.

As Instagram’s worldwide mobile ad revenue rises, its share of Facebook’s total mobile ad revenue will jump from 5% this year to 14% in 2017, the report says. In the United States, eMarketer expects Instagram to account for 10.7% of Facebook’s mobile ad revenue this year and for that percentage to reach 28.0% by 2017.

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Key to Instagram’s mobile display ad growth is a shift from ads that retailers and other advertisers use to market their brands into what the platform calls “action-oriented” ads. Such ads aim to drive a specific action directly from the ad, including a Buy button that sends shoppers to a retailer’s e-commerce site, a mobile app download ad and a Sign Up ad that encourages consumers to sign up for a website or service.

“Now that Instagram is opening up, there is a lot of pent-up demand,” says Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst. “The rollout of new features over the next several months means that by the end of 2015, Instagram will have a host of new ad products for advertisers large and small.”

 

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