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Instagram is one of the few social media platforms that I use. While I’m not a daily user due to the platform’s changes in the last few years, I find it useful in certain aspects of my life.
However, Instagram is considering adding unskippable ads, which would make me quit the platform for good. Here’s why.
Instagram Is Testing Unskippable Ads
According to a report byThe Verge, confirmed by Instagram’s spokesperson Matthew Tye, the platform is testing unskippable ads. As shared by some users online, Instagram’s ad breaks prevent you from scrolling for a few seconds that so you can watch an ad.
According to a screenshot shared by one Twitter user@TheDanLevy, who experienced Instagram’s experimental ad breaks, the platform says, “Ad breaks are a new way of seeing ads on Instagram. Sometimes you may need to view an ad before you can keep browsing.”
Instagram regularly tests different features before rolling them out to everyone, so depending on how the experiment goes, you may or may not see ad breaks on the platform in the future.
Why Unskippable Ads Would Make Me Quit Instagram
Still, I won’t hesitate toditch Instagramif ad breaks become a thing. Here are three reasons why:
1. Instagram Is Already Full of Ads
I started using Instagram in March 2015 (if you don’t know how old yours is, we have a guide onhow to check when you created your Instagram account). For nearly a decade, I have seen many changes on the platform—some good and some bad, depending on who you ask.
But, it seems I arrived late for the best Instagram experience since it began implementing its advertising program the same year. It added ads to stories in 2017 and the explore page in 2019. Over time, ads have been added to nearly every corner of the app.
Currently, Instagram has ads in the home feed, reels, explore page, between stories, and in profile feeds of public profiles. That’s all the places you may scroll to see content on the platform.
As if adding ads to all the corners of the app wasn’t bad, Instagram has, over time, increased ad frequency. That has hurt my user experience, prompting me to use the platform less and less over time. And it’s not just me. A simple Google Search with the search term “Instagram is full of ads” reveals similar sentiments.
While writing this post, I did a little experiment. I opened Instagram and counted the ads shown for the first 17 posts. Not surprisingly, I encountered seven ads by the 17th post. That’s roughly an ad every two posts.
Throw ad breaks into the mix, and continuing to use Instagram just doesn’t make sense anymore. Increasingly, Instagram is starting to feel like a place for keeping up with ads instead of friends and family.
Social media platforms are mainly about short-form content and continuous scrolling. This is in stark contrast to video-on-demand services like Netflix, Hulu, and otherstreaming services with ads.
Ad breaks are essential on platforms like Netflix because the content available is lengthy, and not doing so will reduce the chances of an ad being seen. Instagram, for example, is mainly about photos and short-form video content. This content guides the nature of social media consumption.
Because of social media’s nature, where users scroll through an infinite stream of content and quickly move from one piece of content to the next, it makes sense to incorporate ads between the content.
And that has been the mainrevenue stream for many social media platforms. It always feels natural that way, and forcing me to view an ad for a certain number of seconds before continuing just doesn’t fit into this nature.
It’s not surprising that no other major social media platform has ad breaks except Facebook, which I barely use. But even Facebook’s implementation isn’t as intrusive, since it doesn’t force you to stop scrolling and view an ad before continuing.
3. Unskippable Ads Will Disrupt the Seamless Browsing Experience
This ties into the second point above. In the social media realm, it has become a norm that, as a user, I expect, at a minimum, an uninterrupted experience while scrolling.
Ad breaks definitely have a place in advertising, but not on Instagram. Besides their disruptive nature, ad breaks don’t fit into the nature of social media consumption. Plus, I feel that Instagram is already full of ads, an increasingly common sentiment in online communities like Instagram’s dedicated subreddit. Adding ad breaks would be the last straw and make me leave the platform.
