As announced months ago, Instagram will become the next major social network to display ads to its users, something it has not done so far in its three-year existence. With official statements today, the service confirmed that displaying ads "among" its content, in the form of images and videos, will begin next week, at least for users from the United States.
This development will certainly not please 150 million users, but it is the only way to drastically increase revenue for the service. After all, Facebook spent 1 billion last year to acquire it, in a deal that was perhaps considered inappropriate and has indeed not yet yielded profits for Mark Zuckerberg. The truth is that all this time the ground was simply being prepared and the plan was being drawn up based on which the ads would be marketed to users, without "driving" from using Instagram and with the greatest possible financial benefits.
It seems like it will succeed, since the first indications show some discreet ads, while as the service explicitly states, users' data to provide them with targeted advertising for goods that they are likely to be interested in. These ads will easily stand out from the rest of the content thanks to the "Sponsored" that will be next to them. Check out the relevant template published by Instagram to get an idea.
Instagram has also already signed deals with major brands that will be promoted through it, including Adidas, Ben & Jerry's, Burberry, General Electric, Levi's, Lexus, Macy's, Michael Kors, PayPal and Starwood. It is a given, of course, that many more giants will follow and that eventually the hot money will start flowing into the company's coffers. And according to analysts, Facebook (and all the services it owns) will own 1/3 of the advertising revenue from mobile platforms in the US, for 2013. It seems that the golden recipe has been found and the millions of users can now be easily converted into dollars...
Source: digitallife.gr
