In a move that will surprise no one, Instagram will begin to place full-screen ads within its Stories feature. The announcement comes as Stories reaches 150 million users in the five months since its inception.
The feature is only a test for now with a few big name clients like Netflix, Nike and AirBnb, but expect it to grow to a wider range of businesses soon. Photo ads are five seconds long and videos 15, but they shouldn’t be too much of an annoyance, as you are able to skip them with a swipe, according to TechCrunch.
Moreover, the ads won’t show up until you’ve watched several stories in sequence – the ads are snuck in between two friends’ stories.
In related news, Instagram will give users with a business profile the ability a new set of analytics about Stories, including reach, impressions, replies and exits for each individual story. Businesses will be able to set up targeting, and measurement capabilities so they can reach the right audiences.
Much like Snapchat, Instagram has found that Stories could make for a powerful advertising medium because they command a degree of attention not available to most other media formats (especially on mobile). They are full screen, for one, and “roughly 70 percent” of stories are watched with sound on.
Just be ready for your Stories feed to be a little more cluttered. Here’s to hoping Instagram keeps the number of ads in Stories relatively tasteful.
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