Instagram Is Bringing Carousel Ads To Stories

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Less than a year since Instagram started allowing ads in Instagram Stories, the company is expanding the ad options on the feature, with Carousel Ads.

Instagram Stories have become a big success since they launched last year, with over 300 million users creating and watching Stories on the platform daily. That’s almost double the users found on Snapchat entirely. Further to the format’s success, Instagram is expanding the ad types that can be used on it. Now, advertisers can use carousels, mixing videos or images. The new feature is a continuation of the ability to post organic Stories – and that’s something users have been able to do for some time.

Instagram is building on the success of Stories by adding Carousel Ads.

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Instagram’s Director of Product Marketing, Susan Rose, explained that the new feature was highly requested by businesses and advertisers, “given the power that they’ve seen through organic stories with multiple pieces of content.” For now, Instagram is starting out by giving advertisers the ability to use three pieces of content in their carousels, not more.

As Rose explains, three is “just a starting point.” After all, three is better than one, right?

If you’ve been using Instagram Stories ads, the new feature will make a lot of sense. For one, you can say a lot more. Secondly, you can actually tell a bit of a story. Short as it might be, that story can use different media types to make it work better. As with all Instagram Stories, users can swipe back and forth and pause as well. Advertisers can use stickers, drawing tools, etc to make their Stories more interesting.

Advertisers now get three pieces of media to use with Instagram Stories Ads – not just one.

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Carousels on Instagram Stories Ads are currently being tested with big advertisers like Coca-Cola, the Gap, and Paramount, and will soon be rolled out to all.