Users in the US will start to see ads in the next couple of months
Ads are coming to Instagram in the next couple of months, the photo- and video-sharing app maker said Thursday.
Starting out, users in the U.S. may see an occasional ad in their feeds, the company announced.
The ads will come as both photos and videos and will be from brands that users do not follow, Instagram said.
Instagram said it will start rolling out the ads slowly, "from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community."
A spokeswoman for Instagram declined to comment further or to say which brands would be coming on first.
The aim, according to Instagram, is to have the ads feel as natural as the photos and videos coming from the brands that people do follow.
Instagram's clean interface and processing filters have helped to make it one of the most prominent photo-sharing apps. Facebook bought it for about US$1 billion last year, when the app reportedly had little or no revenue.
Instagram claims to have 150 million members, and it may risk losing some of them if it clogs their feeds with ads.
Still, some saw the move as inevitable as Instagram tries to monetize its service. In July, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked during the company's quarterly earnings call whether people would start seeing ads in their Instagram feeds.
His answer: Probably yes, in time.
Instagram said there would be controls for users to hide ads they don't like and to provide feedback to the company.
Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's e-mail address is zach_miners@idg.com
While approaching a customer in a shop and asking what you can help them with is Retail 101, how many of us actually enjoy being approached? Generally, you have to give the forced, fake smile and say, “Just browsing, thanks,” while screaming on the inside, “just leave me alone!” Maybe it’s just me?
Not a day passes by in the life of business executives where digital innovation or the prospect of disruption is not front of mind. This in turn, drives an unrelenting flow of questioning, discussion and strategy papers.
Unless you’ve been marketing under a rock, you’ll probably have questioned whether your media agencies are offering you transparency.
In Episode 10 of this new podcast series, BrandHook MD, Pip Stocks, talks with Country Road GM of brand and customer experience, Col Kennedy, about how brands enabling teams to support the customer no matter what they want to achieve is vital to the engagement equation.
Minor correct Nadia, just wanted to clarify that the "Marketo consultants" that did this work, were actually Hoosh consultants
Fab Capodicasa
What it's taking for Edible Blooms to grow a stronger personalisation strategy
Im not surprise though, been in the industry for couple of years and I feel and see it with my tow eyes how eCommerce platforms innovated...
Jason Smith
Australia Post earmarks $20m for Australian ecommerce innovation investment
For marketers that are "going Agile" I recommend using Ravetree. It's a really powerful suite of tools for Agile project management, reso...
Janice Morgan
7 ways to run your marketing department like a software startup
Over the years very part of our lives has become technological. That’s why I am not surprised to see that Australian home loans are going...
GreatDayTo
Why Aussie Home Loans is embracing digital transformation
Please be alerted eHarmony is a 17+ years old obsolete site. eHarmony is only supported by a big marketing budget and not by serious scie...
FernandoArdenghi
CMO interview: eHarmony CMO reveals what it takes to foster great team relationships