Instagram and TikTok Now Command Three Quarters of Social Media Growth Demand, New Boostero Analysis Finds
Figure 1. Share of orders by platform, first half 2025 versus first half 2026.
Figure 2. Share of all orders by service type over 18 months.
Figure 3. Service mix within each platform over 18 months.
Figure 4. Top countries by share of identified orders, first half of 2026.
Analysis of 1,000,000+ orders over 18 months: followers fall to 9% of demand, shares and saves double, and France becomes the second-largest market.
MIDDLETOWN, DE, UNITED STATES, August 3, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Boostero, a social media marketing panel serving creators, brands, and agencies since 2020, today released findings from an analysis of more than one million anonymized orders placed between January 2025 and June 2026. The study offers a rare view of where and how people actually buy social media growth, and the picture that emerges is a market rapidly concentrating on two platforms while buyers grow more sophisticated about what they order.Two platforms now dominate
Across the 18 months, Instagram accounted for 42% of all orders and TikTok for 26%, together making up more than two thirds of demand. The gap is widening. Comparing the first half of 2025 with the first half of 2026, Instagram rose from 34% to 45% of orders and TikTok from 26% to 31%. Over the same period, Twitter/X fell from 12% to 4%, YouTube from 8% to 4%, and Telegram from 10% to 6%. In a single year, the two short-form and visual platforms went from 60% to 76% of all orders.
Buyers want reach and engagement, not followers
Views were the most ordered service at 42% of orders, followed by Likes at 32%. Followers made up just 9%. The clearest shift was in deeper engagement: orders for Shares and Saves nearly doubled their share, from 5% to 10%, between the first halves of 2025 and 2026, while Comments also rose. The data points to buyers chasing the signals that platforms actually weight, rather than surface-level follower counts.
Every platform has its own pattern
Demand looks different on each network. On Facebook, two out of three orders are Likes (67%). Twitter/X is dominated by Views (57%). YouTube stands out for Comments, which make up roughly a quarter of its orders (26%). Instagram and TikTok both center on Views and Likes.
A global market that is shifting
Orders came from more than 25 countries. The United States led at roughly 30% of geographically identified orders, but France was the standout riser, climbing to about 15% in the first half of 2026, up from around 3% a year earlier, to become the second-largest market in the study. Demand was strong across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia-Pacific.
Commenting on the findings, a Boostero spokesperson said: "The market has effectively voted for short-form video, and it is voting for engagement over vanity metrics. People are no longer just buying a bigger follower number. They are buying the shares, saves, and comments that actually signal relevance to a platform. Any growth strategy for the year ahead has to start there."
Methodology
The findings are based on more than one million anonymized orders placed on Boostero between January 2025 and June 2026. All figures are aggregate shares. Country was derived from anonymized IP geolocation, looked up and then discarded, with raw addresses never stored. Internal, test, and reseller accounts were excluded so the results reflect real end demand. Boostero reports distributions and how they changed, not individual data. The full report, including all charts, is available on the Boostero blog at https://boostero.com/smm-panel-blog/state-of-social-media-growth-2026
ABOUT BOOSTERO
Boostero is a social media marketing panel that helps creators, brands, agencies, and resellers grow across 23+ platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Telegram. Operating since 2020 and serving customers in 125+ countries, Boostero has delivered more than 11.9 million orders for over 209,000 registered users, with fast delivery, transparent pricing, a full reseller API, and 24/7 support via Telegram, email, and tickets. Learn more at https://boostero.com
Zane Roberts
Boostero
+1 302-319-4590
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Bluesky
YouTube
TikTok
X
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
