NEW YORK—Instagram has taken over from Facebook as the top social media platform for TV engagement. According to ListenFirst's “State of Social TV” report, in 2017, Instagram overtook Facebook in engagement for the first time as organic reach of media posts on Facebook declined 40 percent and social-branded content outperformed all other TV posts by 42 percent.

"The growth of TV social audiences presented a new advertising opportunity in the form of branded content. So, naturally, Facebook's recent announcement about changes to its News Feed has put a lot of media companies on edge," said Jason Klein, co-founder and co-CEO, ListenFirst. 

"The unique insights in this report can help media companies better prepare for the Facebook changes to come, and also presents advertisers with a compelling reason for continuing to partner with media companies on social branded content.

Key points from the report include:

· Decline in Facebook organic reach does not mean less people see content from media properties: While Facebook organic reach declined by 40 percent in 2017, the number of people who saw a TV post organically declined by only 13 percent, meaning TV posts reached audiences beyond a TV page's fan base

· Instagram surpassed Facebook as the number one most engaging platform: Instagram grew 41 percent in engagement in 2017 while Facebook engagement declined by 25 percent

· Instagram's fan footprint across TV pages grew 11x from 2014 to 2017 topping 256 million followers, nearing Twitter's 283 million users

· Social engagement for streaming programs grew 13x from 2016-2017, while broadcast and cable programs grew by 6x and 5x, respectively, during the same period

· Social branded content published by TV pages outperformed non-branded content by an average 42 percent in 2017 and generated 9x more engagement than what an advertiser generated on its own page

This story first appeared on TV Technology's sister publication TVB Europe.