It was only a matter of time before Instagram began showing advertisements in their Reels feature. The company has begun testing ads in the feature in select countries such as India, Brazil, Germany, and Australia, showing them in between regular content posted by users.
Ads in Instagram Reels can be up to 30 seconds long and will have the same vertical and full screen format as regular Reels. This is similar to how Instagram implemented ads in their Story feature, however, unlike Instagram Story ads, ads in Instagram Reels can be commented on, liked, saved and also shared.
Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, began testing another form of advertising in their Facebook Story feature called Sticker ads. As the name suggests, stories posted on Facebook can have little stickers that, when clicked, will direct the user to a page to buy that product. The creator of that story will receive a small kickback in return and users will ideally know that they are clicking a sponsored link – thanks to the “Sponsored” text below the sticker itself.
Ads in Instagram Reels should begin showing soon in the above-mentioned 4 countries, and Sticker ads on Facebook will begin testing in the coming weeks.