Ever found yourself doomscrolling down your Instagram feed and feeling all the information coming your way sap your attention span and energy? Seems that might come to an end, but at the cost of watching a couple of unskippable ads in the process. It seems Instagram has taken a page out of YouTube’s book and tested out how well that would go.
X and Reddit users posted screenshots of a pop-up that required them to wait for an unskippable ad to finish before they got resume scrolling. As one could predict, this did not fare well with the users and caused an outrage. Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has confirmed they are indeed pushing out unskippable ads, and this could potentially become a main-stay.
Instagram is currently testing this “feature” in some regions, and it seems the sample group was chosen randomly. Currently, there’s no information about whether it is being tested globally or if it has been released officially. If you haven’t received an unskippable ad yet, it seems you have lucked out, at least for the initial phases of it.
Instagram is reportedly testing unskippable ads
The 'ad break' requires users to wait a set amount of time before they're allowed to scroll again pic.twitter.com/jrmds1Urju
— Danish (@kohkun654) June 4, 2024
Ad breaks
Instagram already has ads on their platform but you can easily swipe past them, they are unintrusive to the overall experience. A couple of years back, users reported Instagram was churning out way too many ads, and, as expected, users did not like that hence why they pulled back.
Unskippable ads aren’t uncommon by any means. The best example can be found on YouTube, where, generally speaking, a 30-second unskippable ad appears before a video. The only way to avoid those is by opting for YouTube Premium. However, YouTube is a video-sharing platform that hosts long- and short-form videos, so the ads feel somewhat justified. It also delivers a similar experience to watching cable TV, so ads feel almost like a part and parcel of the entire deal.
Instagram is also not struggling financially. Figures show that the platform’s ad revenue has been increasing yearly. From fillings, it is on display that the platform gained $32.4 billion in 2021 from ad revenues, whereas YouTube, in the same year, despite its unskippable ad model, gained $28.8 billion in ad revenue. That being said, this ad break push comes after Meta’s announcement of the no-ads subscription for Europe from last year. One can say that the unskippable ads might be Instagram’s way of pushing people to subscribe.
#Instagram is testing a new "ad break" feature where users must watch ads before continuing to browse. Unlike skippable ads, this format includes a countdown timer. ⏲️
Despite sparking outrage, the aim of "ad break" is to drive more value for #advertisers.#BizHour pic.twitter.com/9U5Xt0yWTz
— LittleMediaAgency (@LittleMediaAgen) June 5, 2024
The silver lining
For Meta, Instagram generated about 30% of its total revenue in the first half of 2022. By forcing users to watch unskippable ads, they can potentially boost their earnings from ads further. While this benefits the company, it degrades the user’s experience. Doomscrolling, as the ominous name might suggest, isn’t the healthiest of practices. An unskippable ad can essentially act like a much-needed break.
However, seeing how Instagram is primarily used for entertainment and escape, it might not be the best idea. The feature is only in its initial testing phase, and Meta is likely to do a lot more testing before rolling it out officially. Personally speaking, something tells me there’d be severe backlash if that happens.
Photo credit: The feature image is owned by Meta and was made available as part of their press photos.
Sources: Reddit / Liv McMahon (BBC) / Peter Kafka (Business Insider) / Meta
