After commenting this year it would experiment with ads on its photo and video sharing app, Instagram announced 10/3 it will begin to offer ad placement in its iOS and Android apps in the next few months.
“We have big ideas for the future, and part of making them happen is building Instagram into a sustainable business,” the company wrote in a blog post on its website. “In the next couple months, you may begin seeing an occasional ad in your Instagram feed if you’re in the United States.”
The advertising will be part of the core experience, or what is called native advertising. Brands and companies will pay for their “high-quality photos and videos” to appear in users’ feed. Similar to Facebook, which bought Instagram last year for $1 billion, users will be able to hide an ad they don’t like or isn’t relevant to them.
Instagram also specifically said in its blog post that your photos and videos continue to belong to you, likely addressing the issues it had months ago when it made changes to its terms of service, implying it might take users’ photos and place them in ads, noted ABC News.
“As always, you own your own photos and videos. The introduction of advertising won’t change this,” Instagram said in the post.
Instagram’s move to add advertising into feeds comes as Twitter is expected to release its IPO filing any day now (the Federal Government shutdown is what’s holding that up).
