Instagram is taking its revenue generating advertisement business to the next level by showing auto-play video ads to users.
Instagram, the Facebook-owned image sharing website, is rolling out 15-second auto-play video ads in a bid to connect advertisers and audiences in a better way. The lucrative advertisement system first started in November last year, which attracted a series of angry viewers and notable amount of likes. The new video ads started appearing on some users' feeds starting Thursday and a wider roll out is planned over the course of upcoming weeks, AdWeek reported.
Instagram has already attracted advertising partners for its new video ads, including Disney Activision, Lancome, Banana Republic, and the CW. Disney's first video ad promoted the upcoming Big Hero 6, where different animated characters were posing for selfies, the report added. Similarly, other companies also posted brand-related ads that last no more than 15 seconds. Banana Republic showed a video advertisement of making a sketch for a woman clothing, while Activision took the opportunity to promote Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare release on November 3.
The popular photo and video sharing site confirmed the new change in a statement to PCMag.
"We're working with a number of brands on video ads, and that will continue to grow," a company spokesman said in a statement. "Each ad is targeted at a specific audience, so the people who see the ads depends on who the advertisers are trying to reach."
Instagram stressed that its static ad system was quite profitable and turned favorable results to advertisers. According to the company, Levi's was able to reach 7.4 million people in the U.S. in just nine days with a single ad and Ben & Jerry's reached 9.8 million people over eight days.
Facebook originally started video ads in March with a promotion for the movie Divergent. The ads played automatically when users scrolled past it on their timeline. The integration of the video ads into Instagram isn't a complete surprise as the social network is known to apply similar strategies to all its services upon successful results.
Facebook's acquired chat service, WhatsApp will remain free from ads and subscriptions but only till the app attracts one billion users.
