Ads are nothing new to Instagram users but starting today the popular photo sharing service’s users will start to see video ads. These 15-second video spots will appear in the feed in exactly the same way as sponsored images have been appearing for nearly a year now. Instagram has been testing out its video ads over the past few months and now its finally pushing it out.
It is possible that some users might have already seen a video ad on Instagram while tests were still ongoing, but they’ll start appearing regularly in users’ feeds now. Initially ad spots will be from a handful of companies which include Activision, Lancome, Banana Republic, Disney and the CW network.
One thing that makes video ads on Instagram stand out from photo ads is that they’ll simply be the kind of commercials we’re all used to seeing. With photo ads Instagram made an effort to ensure that they fit in with the look and feel of the service, video ads are just 15-second spots.
Nevertheless video advertisements will open up a big revenue stream for Instagram which is now under the ownership of Facebook, and obviously it is required to make money. No word as yet if there will ever be a paid service that will let users have an ad-free experience, but for now, you’ll have to bear these 15-second spots in your Instagram feed.