It seems that several marketers were asked by Marketing Land about a noticeable uptick in ad load on Instagram, with ads accounting for as much as 22% out of 45 posts and 23% of Stories. It looks like Instagram is now confirming it is experimenting with increasing ad volume in Stories.
“We’re always testing new ad experiences on Instagram and want to learn how people and advertisers respond to this small test,” said a spokesperson from Facebook, Instagram’s parent company.
According to a report from AdWeek, in the test, ads are run from two different advertisers back-to-back within a story. Right now, the experiment is being performed on a small group of users, and all advertisers who are eligible to be part of the test.
Even though this is a small test, marketers who haven’t begun running Story ads should pay attention. If Instagram makes way for more ads in Stories, advertisers who already know about the ad format and have experience with running successful campaigns will be in prime position to take full advantage of the increased ad inventory.
There could be a minor downside to this, as it could cause ad fatigue by users if they keep seeing back-to-back Story ads on the platform. This is why it’s important for brands to make sure they focus on the creative aspect of their campaigns to differentiate themselves from their competitors.