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Instagram hits 3 billion monthly users; new AI-driven ad model lifts conversions by 2%
Together, the surge in user growth, deeper engagement with video, and early wins in AI-driven ad performance reinforce Instagram’s position as both a cultural and commercial powerhouse within Meta’s ecosystem.
Meta’s flagship photo and video platform, Instagram, hit a major milestone with 3 billion monthly actives, underscoring its continued dominance in the social media ecosystem. The update came during Meta’s third quarter 2025 earnings call, where the company credited AI-powered recommendations and video engagement for driving sustained growth across its family of apps.
“Across Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, our AI recommendation systems are delivering higher quality and more relevant content,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. This improvement led to 5% more time spent on Facebook and a 10% rise on Threads, with video emerging as the central growth engine. On Instagram, video time spent was up more than 30% since last year, while Reels now contributes a run rate of over $50 billion annually.
CFO Susan Li noted that user engagement continued to accelerate, particularly in the United States. “Overall time spent on Facebook and Instagram grew double digits year-over-year, driven by continued video strength as well as healthy growth in non-video time on Facebook,” she said.
Looking ahead, Meta plans to deepen personalization on Instagram’s recommendation systems. “On Instagram, one focus is evolving our systems to surface content across a broader set of topics that cater to the diverse interests of each person,” Li explained, adding that improved content understanding through large language models will help the platform match posts and videos more precisely to user interests.
Instagram also remains a core advertising surface for Meta. “We continue to refine ad supply across each of our major surfaces within Facebook and Instagram to better deliver ads at the time and place they are most relevant to people,” Li said. She added that early testing of a new AI-powered runtime model has already yielded results: “In testing, we’ve seen this new model drive a more than 2% lift in conversions on Instagram.”
Together, the surge in user growth, deeper engagement with video, and early wins in AI-driven ad performance reinforce Instagram’s position as both a cultural and commercial powerhouse within Meta’s ecosystem. With its 3 billion-strong community and rising ad efficiency, Instagram continues to be the company’s most dynamic growth engine heading into 2026.
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