Facebook introduces new Instant Articles Analytics Tool

Facebook intends to prove it once and for all that their Instant Articles format is not only revolutionary, and beneficial to the readers, but also to publishers by introducing a swanky new Instant Articles Analytics Tool.

Publishers on Facebook have previously bemoaned that Instant Articles have diminished website clicks for them, and the Instant Articles Analytics Tool addresses this very concern, and Facebook is so confident of their product, that they are not even mincing any words. Here is what Mona Sarantakos, Product Manager at Facebook writes on the official blog announcing the new tool, “..we worked closely with partners over the last few months to develop a way for publishers to see this comparison for themselves.”

Fair enough. As a reader, I can vouch for the fact that I do prefer to click on Instant Articles rather than mobile website links.

Facebook too, is aware of this as they state Instant Articles perform much better than their web counterparts, “We have found that people are less likely to bounce when articles load fast, more likely to share Instant Articles than mobile web links, and on average people read more articles when they see Instant Articles in their News Feed*.”

Nielsen and Facebook have worked together to settle the matter once and for all, and the Instant Articles Analytics Tool will enable publishers to gauge the performance of Instant Articles as compared to Mobile web links.

As per data offered by Facebook, these are the countries and their preference towards Instant Articles as compared to mobile web links.

US and Canada click and read over 25% more

Europe click and read over 30% more

Middle East and North Africa click and read 80% more

Southeast Asia read and click 60% more

Latin America read and click 60% more

India read and click over 75% more

Facebook users in India have a whopping 75% inclination towards Instant Articles, and the social network says that Over 10,000 publishers around the world are now using Instant Articles, and more than a third of all clicks to articles on Facebook are to Instant Articles.

The numbers are astonishing and Facebook says they are working on adding more metrics to help publishers track the performance of Instant Articles.

Monetization though is a different discussion entirely, and the most significant reason for publishers to worry when it comes to Instant Articles to which Facebook did offer some alleviation. The company “let publishers start showing more ads, introduced Page Like and email sign-up buttons and is now testing recirculation units so news outlets can drive readers from one article to another. Facebook plans to start testing a paid subscription paywall feature in the fall.” Writes Josh Constine from TechCrunch.

“We’re encouraged by the growth and momentum we see in the program and are continuing to invest in improvements that create business value for our partners.” The blog post signs off.

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