Meta To Increase Ad Load On Instagram (techcrunch.com) 56
Following another quarter that saw marketers pull back on their ad spending, Meta today announced it's increasing its ad load on Instagram with the launch of two new ad slots. TechCrunch reports: Amid a slew of product updates for advertisers, including a music catalog for advertisers and a new ad format for Facebook Reels, the company said it will now allow advertisers to run ads on the Explore home page and in profile feeds. Meanwhile, though Instagram Reels began rolling out 30-second ads globally last year, followed by Reels ads on Facebook earlier in 2022, the new format now being tested will involve shorter ads on Facebook Reels, specifically.
Called "post-loop" ads, these 4- to 10-second skippable ads and standalone video ads will play after a Reel has ended. When the ad finishes playing, the Reel will then resume and loop again. Like TikTok, many Reels are designed to be watched more than once -- but stuffing an ad at the end could see users instead choosing to scroll to a new video instead of watching the same one again. This is a risky move, as people will also likely consider this a poor user experience.
Meta also said it will test "image carousel" ads in Facebook Reels starting today. These are horizontally scrollable ads that can include anywhere from two to 10 image ads and are shown at the bottom of Facebook Reels content. In addition, the company is introducing new Instagram ad placements as a way to increase the surface for ads as it struggles to monetize its TikTok competitor, Reels. This is being done through the addition of ads on the Explore home page and in the profile feed. [...] Historically, Instagram had only placed ads on Explore within the Explore feed -- that is, when a person taps on a post and scrolls. But now, it's expanding to the Explore home page itself, as it says it sees users spending meaningful time there, Instagram told TechCrunch. This is already rolling out globally.
Called "post-loop" ads, these 4- to 10-second skippable ads and standalone video ads will play after a Reel has ended. When the ad finishes playing, the Reel will then resume and loop again. Like TikTok, many Reels are designed to be watched more than once -- but stuffing an ad at the end could see users instead choosing to scroll to a new video instead of watching the same one again. This is a risky move, as people will also likely consider this a poor user experience.
Meta also said it will test "image carousel" ads in Facebook Reels starting today. These are horizontally scrollable ads that can include anywhere from two to 10 image ads and are shown at the bottom of Facebook Reels content. In addition, the company is introducing new Instagram ad placements as a way to increase the surface for ads as it struggles to monetize its TikTok competitor, Reels. This is being done through the addition of ads on the Explore home page and in the profile feed. [...] Historically, Instagram had only placed ads on Explore within the Explore feed -- that is, when a person taps on a post and scrolls. But now, it's expanding to the Explore home page itself, as it says it sees users spending meaningful time there, Instagram told TechCrunch. This is already rolling out globally.
As for me (Score:5, Insightful)
I am to continue to not use Instagram.
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Pure genius.
Re:As for me (Score:4, Insightful)
Step 3: Offer a "premium" service with no ads.
Step 4: Start introducing "selected" ads into the premium service.
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Problem is, nobody would pay for Facebook.
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Users are already paying - with their personal information.
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The beatings will continue until morale improves.
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In a perfect world, Zuckerberg would end his days broke and living under a bridge somewhere cold.
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I have however cut my usage by over 80%
And I run ad blockers, have a large hosts file sending trackers to 127.0.0.1
And I will be adding in PiHole soon too for everything on my network.
F them.
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I am to continue to not use Instagram.
Congrats on not being impacted. For me, I've simply started using it on PC with a suitable adblocker. The mobile app is now somewhat useless with every second post being some irrelevant ad.
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That means you're not the target audience of "women who care about their looks and lifestyle". Congratulations.
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Fuck Meta (Score:1)
Tighten that grip as the remaining non-bot users filter out to greener pastures.
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Pretty much. While I am sad to lose pictures from my niece and nephew... and puppies... time to delete the crap.
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Fortunately, pictures can be shared via email, just as we have been doing for over two decades now. So if you're just using meta's products for photo sharing, you can safely ditch their crap, and lose nothing of value!
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But ...puppies!
It is marginally stalking, but the barrier to instagram is much lower than emailing individuals.
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The ads are gonna fix that.
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the barrier to instagram is much lower than emailing individuals.
I think you've nailed part of the problem with the modern internet right there. When people had to choose each recipient for an email, they thought (even just a tiny bit) about what they were saying before they hit "send."
Now, with Instagram, Twitter and all the rest, it's far easier to spew anything, all over the web, at any time. Worse, other people running Twitter, Insta etc get a little notification that goes "ding" on their phone. By Pavlovian reflex, they check their phone to see this latest bit of no
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Fortunately for you, storing pictures is a feature your phone already had without the help of Instagram/Meta. You're welcome. :)
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Instagram is basically mandatory for young women nowadays. Also the best place to find someone to get laid in many regions as a man, because female to male ratio on that site is as hilarious as on tinder, but in reverse.
"Sliding into DMs on instagram" is a thing for a reason.
So to drive it into the ground? (Score:2)
I mean, more ads, less users. But I guess the CEO universe does not contain that little observation. Probably the same type of moron that fantasized up algorithmic "stable" coins.
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It's Satanism, I'm not even joking. And when this doesn't work he's going to be shocked to the point of a psychotic break with reality.
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That only means we have to add more ads. Until we show all the ads to nobody.
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That only means we have to add more ads. Until we show all the ads to nobody.
At some point increasing the ads-to-content ratio does not work anymore. That point may well be in the past for them. Now, they could be smart and go the other way, but these people never are. It is like they have no general intelligence or creativity and can only ever use the same tired old recipes again and again.
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Shhh. Learn something from Napoleon, never hinder the enemy when he's about to make a grave mistake.
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Shhh. Learn something from Napoleon, never hinder the enemy when he's about to make a grave mistake.
Napoleon, eh? Would have attributed this more to Sun Tzu, but it is good advice.
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That only means we have to add more ads. Until we show all the ads to nobody.
This thought occurred to me earlier this year. In my local terrestrial radio market, the ads-to-music radio for local CHR stations is at least 40%, some a bit more, some a bit less. Clearchannel and Cumulus may well be complaining about people using Spotify and Pandora more than they'd like, but the incessant ads (some breaks being over six minutes long, including the same commercial multiple times) make it insufferable to listen to...even the radio personalities spend most of their time reading ads.
I went
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It never ceases to amaze me how "ad men" (maybe ad women?) can't work this stuff out. They see a site making no money at all. They put one ad on it, and it makes X amount. They put 2 ads on it, and it makes (X * 2). They put 3 ads on, it makes (X * 3 - some amount), so they chalk it up as a win and put 4 ads on. It now makes (X * 3 + some amount), so instead of backing off and leaving it at 4, or even dropping to a solid 3, they double-up on the stupid and think that if they put more ads on it'll make even
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The thing is that ad people are just not very smart.
Was already horrible years ago (Score:2)
Re: Was already horrible years ago (Score:2)
I have no idea what algorithm you are referring towards, but I left almost 10 years ago. The decline seems real, and I know many good engineers that are laughing at and declining their interview attempts.
From where I stand, the fall of Facebook seems well underway. Though I highly doubt Mark will end up poor and under a bridge - you tend to diversify your money after a certain point, so even when Facebook goes tits up he will be fine
Makes me glad (Score:2)
omnipresent ads (Score:3)
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Just get an ad blocker...
Re: omnipresent ads (Score:2)
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ghostery / privacy badger
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Depending on the amount of youtube you watch daily, Youtube premium can be quite cheap...
And to be fair, its a good thing to move (partially) away from this "everything is for free but with insane amounts of ads" to an alternative business model.
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Adblockers work fine with it.
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YouTube is becoming unbearable with 30 seconds of advertising before a 3 minute video. If it gets worse, I'll start planning my viewing ahead of time and scripting downloads via youtube-dl.
Firefox with NoScript and uBlock Origin. No more ads (barring the in-video sponsored ones, but you can fast-forward). Enjoy!
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Re: omnipresent ads (Score:2)
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Here's a little tip... (Score:2)
I'm old enough to remember (Score:3)
When regular cable TV didn't have ads. That lasted maybe 3 years. Now we have a litany of "freemium" channels like AMC that has great content but 1/3 of the airtime is commercials unless of course, you sign up with their streaming service. No thanks.
Content costs, good content will cost more but I think the commodity of ad-supported content is getting too damn annoying for much of anyone. You can't even watch a 5-minute youtube vid anymore without at least 4 interruptions for the latest butt sex cream or some fat chick in a tub buying shit.
I thought every Insta post was an ad (Score:3)
Or were Kim K. and Kelly J. sincerely excited when they showed the latest caffe latte premium deluxe from BucksStar?
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You left out the part where you explain why I should care why some people who're famous for being famous (and fuck all else) are excited.
Why does Slashdot have a "meta" subdomain? (Score:2)
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They are on the take.
The internet is not for phone apps (Score:2)
It is becoming borderline unusable. Open up a webpage on a phone and it's 3/4 ads, popups, notification requests, etc. Open up Youtube on a phone and it's ads on ads on ads then a bit of content. Instagram is no different. Over the past 2 years the mobile app has turned into more ads than anything else.
And GenZ people wonder why I still use a computer despite PCs being "dead". The internet is just not suitable for portable devices anymore, because the vendors have shat the bed.
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Blokada blocks a lot of ads within apps on android (get proper one from their website, not the "play policies compatible" play store version).
I personally recommend latest V4, because it's the most powerful. But it will suck up more battery than others, because it has to do a lot of work.
Never bought from FB/Meta AD's (Score:2)
Obligatory Ready Player One scene (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
So what, 5000 ads to 1 post instead of 4999 to 1? (Score:2)
Garbage platform should zuck off.
The more ads, the better (Score:2)