eMarketer: The number of Instagram users in Western Europe will grow 17.0% in 2020

The number of monthly Instagram users in Western Europe will grow by 17.0% to 132.8 million in 2020. This is more than three times the growth rate predicted before the pandemic (5.2%) and equates to 19.3 million additional users compared to 2019.

In June 2020, eMarketer estimated that Instagram's user base would grow 10.4% to 125.4 million people. A comparison of the November 2019 and October 2020 forecasts shows that the region will now have 14.3 million more users than was predicted before the pandemic began.

In 2021, Instagram user growth in Western Europe will fall to 4.8%, as pandemic-related conditions have led to more users signing up or increasing their usage. However, the re-introduction of stay-at-home measures in some countries and an increase in social commerce could lead to an upward revision.

For example, during Facebook's second quarter 2020 earnings call, COO Sheryl Sandberg talked about an Italian coffee shop that successfully used its Instagram account to promote online sales and free home delivery.

There is evidence that social commerce has taken root elsewhere in the region. An August 2020 study by ChannelAdvisor and Dynata found that 20% of adult UK online shopping customers said they had purchased a product after seeing an Instagram post or ad since the start of the pandemic, up from 17% in May 2020.

“The Western European countries with the fastest Instagram user growth in 2020 are also the ones hardest hit by the pandemic, such as France, Spain, and Italy,” said eMarketer senior analyst Jasmine Enberg. “While it’s impossible to parse out exactly how much of this accelerated growth was due to the pandemic, it’s clear that stay-at-home measures spurred shopping activity on the social platform, which also led to new user signups.”

199IT.com Originally compiled from: eMarketer. Please do not reprint without authorization