What’s worse is how controversial the recently held testing phase has become as the ads cannot be skipped or scrolled past, very similar to what YouTube offers to its free users.
Now are we really surprised? Well, no because it’s a proven fact that Meta derives most of its revenue through advertising. But seeing such ads get more intrusive on the Instagram app is an eye-opener and nightmare for some.
The news was first published yesterday after a few users on the app noticed the endeavor and couldn’t help but whine about how ads couldn’t be skipped, no matter how much you wished that was not the case.
Holy moly! Meta seemingly is now forcing us to watch ads in our feeds on Instagram!
The app legit stopped me from scrolling past this ad which is just a bonkers move to me. pic.twitter.com/740EXjGyl2
— Dan Levy ✡ דניאל לוי (@TheDanLevy) June 1, 2024
The popular social media app Meta has been rolling out advertising breaks to a limited number of people while they navigate their way through the platform. Such breaks are only a few seconds long but you cannot avoid them, which seems to be the problem.
So just like the dreadful fear of seeing them on YouTube, users would be forced to watch until the end, if they wish to continue using the platform and scrolling through their usual feeds.
The response so far from users is negative, to say the least. One went as far as to dub this behavior as bonkers. Meanwhile, Reddit saw an outburst of emotions on this front from different Instagram fans. Now the question is whether or not every user would be facing this dilemma of seeing ads or just a few.
For now, that’s not the case so you can definitely breathe a sigh of relief. But as per one spokesperson from the company, the platform is certainly running tests to see what works best. The goal is to see what works and how advertisers on the app can benefit the most, even if that comes at the expense of users.
Instagram says it hopes to provide more updates on this front when the time is right. Hence, for now, it’s keeping its lips sealed as the tests get rolled out globally. We are not sure if this would be restricted to the feed only or if the endeavor would be rolled out to the company’s Stories and Reels section.
Can you imagine seeing ads pop up while watching your stories or usual Reels? Yikes, we don’t even wish to think along those lines. But if the company does choose to pull through with this very controversial decision, we can certainly expect more ad breaks on the app, just like how arch-rival YouTube functions.
So this would be like the experience of free users on YouTube who cannot skip advertisements but those paying for a subscription do have the option to opt-out because frankly speaking, they’re paying and others are not.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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