Instagram Has Arrived As A Haven For Ad Dollars, Thanks To Global Ad Roll-out & New Ad Options

A little more than three years ago, Facebook made waves with their acquisition of Instagram. The 10-digit sale price was criticized by some at the time, however, there are  very few folks laughing today. A few major hurdles have been eliminated, making Instagram a major player for traditional media buyers and brand budgets.

Today, Instagram ads are available for all advertisers, both small and large, in more than 30 countries. Current countries include Spain, Italy, Mexico, India and South Korea — with more on the way with a target of September 30. This is a huge development in accessibility for marketers, as they can leverage Facebook’s popular ad infrastructure and include Instagram with objective targeting or shopping directly within Instagram.

On top of the new availability and global targeting, Instagram has rolled out new ad options for advertisers (making it easier to repurpose existing creative):

• Landscape Photo & Video Ads. No longer will advertisers be constrained to the square. This will help advertisers repurpose existing graphics and ads on Instagram.
• 30-Second Videos. Instead of 15-second spots, advertisers can use traditional 30-second spots for Instagram. This is important, as advertisers won’t have to think twice to push their traditional 30-second ads and budgets over with no extra work required.
• Marquee. This is a new premium product  that can give brands mass awareness and expanded reach for a short time frame. Ideal for movies, events or product launches, this is yet another way that brands can move traditional dollars to Instagram to “own” it for a short time.

All of these announcements add up to one thing: Instagram has arrived as a legitimate advertising medium. Look for more and more brands to begin to harness the power of Instagram, with much of the budgets coming at the expense of traditional advertising, thanks to the new changes and upgrades released today.

For more information, see the official Instagram blog post.