Instagram first announced that it would start including advertisements in users’ feeds at the beginning of the month. The company did not reveal much information about how the ads would appear on feeds, but it assured users that the ads would be natural and creative, fitting in seamlessly with other photos and videos. On Thursday, Instagram provided a picture of a sample ad on its blog, which has a distinct “Sponsored” label plastered where the time stamp would normally appear. According to the blog post, you can “[t]ap this label to learn more about how advertising works on Instagram.”
This sample ad will start appearing in U.S. Instagram feeds “in the coming week” to acclimate users to the appearance of advertising. Shortly after, other brands will start placing their own ads on the feed, “starting with just a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.” If you are sick of seeing an ad, you can also click the “…” button and hide it from your feed. Instagram is clearly making an effort to integrate ads as unobtrusively as possible. It will be interesting to see the community’s reaction in the coming weeks. The sample ad can be seen below.
