Instagram is upping its video advertising game. Starting September 30, the photo and video-sharing social app, purchased by Facebook in 2012 for a whopping $1 billion, will make 30-second video ads available to businesses around the world.
Instagram has had video ads for a while, and allowed a few select brands like Disney, CW, and Activision to purchase the ad format, which was previously limited to 15 seconds. Now, Instagram wrote in a blog post the company is making video ads available to “advertisers both large and small” and extending the format’s length to 30 seconds. Brands in more than 30 different countries (including Spain, Mexico, Italy, India, and South Korea) will be able purchase the longer-length Instagram video ads.
With the introduction of Instagram’s widely-available, self-serve video ads comes some new features for brands to utilize in their marketing campaigns. Instagram has launched an ad model dubbed Marquee, which “helps drive mass awareness and expanded reach in a short time-frame.” Instagram notes Marquee is an appropriate advertising method for milestones like movie premieres and product launches.
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Instagram has also introduced the ability for brands to upload video and image content in landscape mode, in an effort to help create a “more cinematic feel.” The content-sharing app has also tapped into Facebook’s ad technology to bring targeting, optimization, and performance tools to brands who purchase Instagram video ads.
Instagram said various businesses have been testing the new video ads and tools over the summer 2015 with “positive results.” The app company cited an example from the Gilt Groupe, which saw an 85% lift in the brand’s app installs after running an Instagram video ad campaign. Overall, Instagram said its ad products boast great branding results for advertisers, with 97% of measured campaigns driving “significant lifts in ad recall.”
“We’re thrilled to see what brands can achieve in the months ahead using Instagram as their creative canvas,” the company wrote.
