Instagram’s inclusion of video on their service last month has helped the service see a huge boon in traffic, rivaling that of YouTube and Vine last July 4th. A report from Flash Networks shows Instagram video hits from that day rising slightly above YouTube traffic, and rising far and beyond Vine’s traffic for that day.
“It appears that subscribers are moving over to video as the preferred format for capturing holiday memories with family and friends,” – Merav Bahat, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Flash Networks
Facebook unveiled its Instagram video capabilities on June 20th, allowing users to record 15 second videos and upload them to their Instagram profiles. The inclusion of video instantly pitted Instagram against Twitter’s Vine, which launched on iOS last January and allows users to snap 6 second videos. The Android version of the Vine app was unveiled in early June, allowing the service to spread across multiple mobile platforms.
While YouTube clearly still dominates the video sharing landscape, Instagram’s rapid rise in traffic signals the rise in popularity of video being used as the preferred method of social media sharing. With its huge installed base across the Android and iOS platforms, it is no surprise that Instagram quickly overtook Vine as the preferred method for video sharing.
Press release follows below.
HERZLIA, Israel, July 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Based on an analysis of mobile data traffic from its installed customer base, Flash Networks, the leading provider of mobile Internet optimization and monetization solutions, found that Instagram video viewing exceeded YouTube on the fourth of July, America’s independence day, reaching close to 28% percent of total video hits. The findings were based on mobile Internet traffic data retrieved from over 30 million smartphone users in North America during the first week of July. Surprisingly, in comparison with Instagram’s sharp spike, YouTube video hits slightly decreased that day and Vine’s video hits stayed relatively flat.
These findings, based on Flash Networks’ Harmony Analytics data, demonstrate the success of Instagram’s video launch last month and the growing popularity of subscribers using video to capture memorable holiday moments. Google’s YouTube is still clearly the most popular video service, and continues to maintain its superiority in the total volume of mobile video traffic. However, Facebook’s Instagram has demonstrated that it can generate usage rivaling YouTube by being the application of choice for capturing and sharing holiday celebrations.
“It appears that subscribers are moving over to video as the preferred format for capturing holiday memories with family and friends,” said Merav Bahat, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Flash Networks. “With all the growing bandwidth requirements, mobile operators are continuing to invest in network upgrades and optimization to meet subscribers’ insatiable desire for rich mobile content.”
Flash Networks collected this data using Harmony Analytics which provides the ability to drill down and analyze traffic based on data plan, (e.g. prepaid, postpaid), devices, bearer, (e.g. 3G, 4G), application, domain, or any combination of these factors. This analysis is helpful for identifying browsing behavior for advertisers to monetize the mobile Internet.About Flash Networks
Flash Networks, the leading provider of mobile Internet optimization and monetization solutions, enables operators to boost network speed, optimize video and web traffic, and generate over-the-top revenues from the mobile Internet. Sitting at the core of the network, Flash Networks’ Harmony Mobile Internet Services Gateway accelerates LTE networks by 50% and reduces web and video traffic data by 30%, while providing operators with in-depth traffic analytics and user insights. In addition, with Harmony, operators can engage with their subscribers by offering an enhanced browsing experience while generating revenues from search, over-the-top content, and targeted advertising.
With offices in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, Flash Networks services over 600 million subscribers daily and is proud to count among its customers top-tier mobile carriers including Orange, Verizon Wireless, SingTel Group, MTS, T-Mobile, South Korea Telecom, and Telekom Austria Group. For more information, visit www.flashnetworks.com.
CONTACTS:Naomi Rabbie
Monica Maron
Flash Networks
Spicetree Communications
Phone: +972-9-961-0841
Mobile: +972-54-5429529
Mobile: +972 54-7744539
monica.maron@spicetreecom.com
naomir@flashnetworks.com
www.spicetreecom.com
www.flashnetworks.comSOURCE Flash Networks
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