Instagram Reels became the fastest-growing part of the service. No wonder Meta explores all possible ways to monetize it, so prepare to see ads in the most unexpected places there. It has already announced some ways of implementing ads, so they will both be seen and non-destructive for the entertaining experience.
One of the most potentially annoying formats is the post-loop ad. These ads will appear as you play a certain Reels video as a loop. These videos will be skippable, but, given as their duration will be between 4 and 10 seconds, the format may imply many viewers just won’t bother to skip them. In addition, they will structure the playback of the original Reels, indicating the beginning and the end more precisely, so there is even some use of them if the content of the ad is irrelevant.
Another place for advertising will be at the bottom of the videos. They will look like horizontally scrollable carousels that contain up to ten images, probably with links to provide the most direct interaction between the viewer and the merchant. Creators will be able to enable or disable this format, as the bottom of the video may be essential for understanding it, and in such videos this format will not be relevant.
With these new ad formats Meta hopes to lure more creators, so they make more content for Reels, not for its competitors like TikTok or YouTube Shorts. Though, given the potential of the mankind, probably all these platforms will have enough content, and reposting will partly equalize them. Still, no matter whether the content is original, ads will be so.
Are you already imagining your loop view interrupted by ads? Or these carousels below the video, partly overlapping it? If you are a creator yourself, do you think these ad formats will benefit your content monetization? Tell us what you feel and think about it in the comments section!