Instagram Confirms Testing of Unskippable Ads

Instagram / Ad Breaks

After being spotted in the wild, Instagram confirmed it is testing unskippable ads. Users who are part of the test will see an Ad Break, which features a countdown timer and requires users to view an ad before being able to continue browsing content.

Why It Matters: As expected, users' response to this hasn't been good for Instagram. Many feel that there are already too many ads on the platform, so some users plan to leave the app if this rolls out of the testing phase. While unskippable ads exist on YouTube, they appear on longer-form content that lasts several minutes, as opposed to content like photos and short-form videos that are consumed in seconds.

While this new ad format would benefit advertisers, it would certainly interrupt the viewing experience and push users away (potentially to the buzzing Cara), TikTok is likely to face this, too, with the rollout of mid-roll ads once more people catch wind of it.