Instagram brings ads to Reels feature

Instagram is bringing ads to its short-form video feature Reels, the company said Thursday. 

The ads will be mobile-first and full screen, similar to the ads in Instagram Stories, according to Instagram’s parent company Facebook. 

The ads will be up to 30 seconds long, and users will be able to like, view, save, share and skip the ads as they would with other content in Reels. 

The update comes less than a year after Instagram launched Reels, a direct competitor to the popular video sharing app TikTok. 

Instagram said it will start testing ads in Reels in India, Brazil, Germany and Australia. Testing will expand to more countries in coming months, according to the announcement. 

In the same announcement, Facebook said it will be testing Sticker Ads for Facebook stories in the coming weeks. The Sticker Ads were first announced in March, and will allow creators to monetize Facebook Stories with ads that look like stickers. 

The update on additional methods for ads in Facebook also comes as Apple is set to roll out a feature that would limit the reach of targeted ads.

Apple’s App Tracking Transparency tool which would require apps to get user’s permission before tracing their data cross apps and websites owned by other companies is scheduled to be released next week as part of a software update. 

Facebook, which thrives off selling targeted ads, criticized the feature ahead of its launch, branding it as harmful for small businesses.