Instagram is stuffing even more ads onto its app in the form of video carousels

By Saqib Shah May 4, 2016

instagram albums news app smartphone ios android — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Instagram is a big fan of video. Not only is the format known to increase engagement among viewers, but it is also favored by brands looking to promote their products.

The photo-sharing app’s latest feature is aimed directly at advertisers, and it manages to cram even more ads on to its platform without saturating its feed.

Instagram is introducing video ads to its Carousel feature, which was launched as a horizontal slideshow for images last year. This means multiple video ads can now take up the same space on Instagram’s vertical feed, allowing you to swipe through them in order to view more.

For brands and businesses, the carousels can feature three to five pieces of media, including photos and videos, with a 60-second maximum duration for the latter. Overall, that allows advertisers to cram a total of five minutes’ worth of video content into a single space. Users will see the first slide on their feed, and can swipe through to reveal the rest, or simply scroll down to ignore it. The first brands to utilize the video carousel will be Airbnb and Macy’s, reports TechCrunch.

The photo-sharing app has introduced a series of recent updates to focus on the popular video format, including curated feeds, and a view count for the clips — after watching time spiked by 40 percent in just six months.

Additionally, it was recently revealed that premium video and dynamic product advertising on Instagram significantly increased the app’s contribution to Facebook’s mammoth mobile revenue.

This dogged pursuit of the video format is also partly due to the rise of Snapchat, which now eclipses Instagram in terms of daily video views, and even rivals the photo-sharing app’s parent company, Facebook. The Instagram carousel itself has drawn comparisons to Snapchat’s Live Story feature, which also lets users swipe through visual media, and includes sponsored content.

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Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…

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