Facebook has confirmed that there are no immediate plans to introduce ads on its photo sharing network, Instagram.
The company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, confirmed that for now, Instagram users shouldn’t expect to see adverts appearing on their image feeds in the same way that ads are now posted to users’ news feeds on Facebook. Zuckerberg said that Instagram’s current priorities are expanding on the platform’s offering and increasing its user base.
However, Kevin Systrom, a co-founder of Instagram, reiterated that the free app was made to be a business.
Zuckerberg said:
“We expect that over time we will generate a lot of profit from it, and that will probably be through advertising.”
Facebook bought the service last year at a cost of around $1 billion (£650 million). Now, the service boasts an active user count of around 130 million – an increase of about 62% against last year’s number.
For Facebook, as more people choose to check their news feeds through mobile platforms, monetising mobile advertising as part of its services is becoming increasingly critical.
The company started running ads on its app in 2012. Revenue from mobile ads now makes up 41% of Facebook’s overall advertising takings, according to figures from last quarter. This represents an increase of 14% against Q1 2013.
Although Facebook hasn’t yet enabled ads on Instagram, many companies are using the platform as a strong component in their internet marketing campaigns, encouraging user engagement and offering visual content to bolster offerings on other platforms.
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