Instagram Starts Displaying Video Ads In Stream

Ads in your Instagram feed are nothing new, but video ads? That's happening. Instagram has gone ahead and made video ads live in your feed, but don't panic — it's not as bad as it seems. Though you'll have ads forced upon you, they won't be the same boring routine you're used to. Instagram is taking steps to ensure the ads on their platform are different, and make sense for the culture. Their hands-on approach might just result in the best advertising you'll ever see, too.

Rather than let partners just toss ads onto Instagram, each ad is reviewed. That stopgap exists so Instagram can make sure advertisers simply aren't taking a single ad found elsewhere and using it to make multiple impressions.

That's not to say the ads on Instagram won't be seen anywhere else, but if Instagram doesn't think it fits the culture and style of the service, it doesn't get posted.

The video ads will auto-play, too, making them a bit unavoidable. We see similar auto-play features in Facebook, which (not so oddly enough) owns Instagram.

Facebook also makes a hefty chunk of change from their advertising prowess.

The ads won't just show up, either. Instagram will let advertisers target demographics they feel will enjoy seeing their content. Age, gender, and country are specifically noted.

Source: AdWeek