Photo-sharing app Instagram has revealed its intentions to expand in-app advertising to countries all over the world, starting with the UK, Australia and Canada.
The service initially launched ads to US users in November 2013, testing it with a number of selected businesses, including Adidas and Levi’s. Its success has led the company to expand advertising to a few more select countries.
Designed to allow its users to take photos and apply a number of different filters before posting on the site’s newsfeed – as well as sharing with numerous social media sites – the app has accumulated over 200 million active users worldwide. This audience was a factor when Facebook acquired the service for £599 million ($1 billion) in 2012.
In a statement released by the company, it is outlined that the primary aim of this strategy is to start making revenue, with the announcement reading:
“We are committed to learning as much as we can while building Instagram as a sustainable business.”
This process was slow and approached with caution in the US, due to the app’s users expressing concerns that their experiences may be hindered by too much advertising.
Parent company Facebook has also shown a tentative approach to monetising Instagram, suggesting similar fears that it could cause users to snub the app, but rising competition from rivals such as Pinterest and Twitter leaves the social platform with no choice but to explore ways to enhance its offerings in the most user-friendly ways possible.
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