Instagram introduces Ads

Instagram first started showing ads in the U.S in October 2013 and expanded ads to UK, Australia and Canada in June last year. Today the popular photo sharing app bringing clickable ads to its platform.

“One way to look at it is carousel ads bring the potential of multi-page print campaigns to mobile phones – with the added benefit of taking people to a website to learn more. For instance, a fashion company could use the carousel to deconstruct the individual products in a ‘look.’ A car company might share an array of different features of a vehicle and provide a link to learn more about the new model. Or, an advertiser could showcase how multiple ingredients come together to make a delicious meal.”
posted Instagram on a company blog.

Instagram has created a slideshow-like ad format that lets advertisers include multiple photos in an ad and a link to the brand’s site. Advertisers can arrange these “carousel” ads so that they tell a story or show off a product in a particular sequence as people swipe through them. These ads allow you to swipe left and right to look through an image slideshow, and the links appear below the image.

Users can scroll past ads they’re not interested in. Instagram which surpassed 300 million monthly user mark said the new service will be rolled out on a limited basis, and that more users will begin seeing carousel ads in the coming weeks.