Online marketers can now create ads on Instagram that users can tap through, swipe back and forth or pause whenever they want.
Instagram announced Carousel Ads for Instagram Stories this morning, nearly two years after Stories launched, and approximately a year after ads began running on it. Rather than just have one piece of media in a Story ad, advertisers can now have up to three and use Instagram’s face filters, superzoom and gif stickers as well.
Instagram says the new features allow advertisers to be more creative and prevents them from having to squeeze their message into a single video or image.
Gap already tapped into the new functions for their latest campaign. Their sample ad can be viewed here. Instagram says Coca-Cola, Renault and Paramount are some of the first global advertisers allowed to play with the new tools before it rolls out more broadly.
Mobile-first videos represented 50 per cent of fourth-quarter video ad revenue, said Facebook Inc.’s COO Sheryl Sandberg in a its latest earnings call. The figure is a significant increase from third-quarter 2017, when mobile-first videos accounted for 41 per cent of video ad revenue.
“We’re seeing the short form videos work well and Instagram Stories were people can watch a full-screen vertical video and swipe up to quickly learn about a product or brand,” she said.