Instagram To Bring Ads To Search Results, Debut Reminder Ads To Boost Revenue

Meta-owned Instagram is bringing more ads to the platform's search results to strengthen its avenues for advertising.

Instagram said in its latest blog post that it has allowed companies to test ads in search results to actively reach people for their products, content and business. Users will be able to see ads on their feeds when they tap into a post from search results.

While the feature is in a testing phase right now, Instagram is planning to launch the new placement worldwide in the coming months.

Once the ad placement is globally active, Instagram users across the world will see ads related to their searches. Users will be able to tell the difference between ads and regular posts with the help of the "Sponsored" label under the account's name.

Instagram spokesperson Shenny Barboza told The Verge that "ads will show up for search terms that fall within our community and recommendation guidelines."

Instagram is also rolling out Reminder Ads for advertisers as an option on their feeds to help them build awareness, anticipation and consideration for events they may be interested in.

The feature will allow users to opt into reminders and receive three notifications from Instagram before and at the time of the event.

"We recently partnered with brands such as Starz to test a new ad format that makes it easier for businesses to announce, remind and notify people of future events or launches that they might be interested in," Instagram's blog post read.

Instagram has added more and more ads to its Explore page, reels and even user profiles in recent years. These new features are aimed at boosting the company's revenue at a time when Meta has been witnessing declining ad sales due to pressure from privacy changes in Apple, tightening budgets and recession fears.

Last week, Meta began testing a paid verification option for Facebook and Instagram users in the U.S. to get a coveted blue check on their account as an alternate revenue stream beyond advertising, according to CNN.

Meta said last month that its ad revenue fell to $31.2 billion in Q4 2022 from $32.6 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. According to Meta CFO Susan Li, the company's Q4 revenue remained under pressure due to weak demand for advertising caused by "the uncertain and volatile macroeconomic landscape."

In July 2022, Meta reported its quarterly revenue decrease in Q2 2022 for the first time since going public in 2007. The company reported a revenue of $28.82 billion, a 1% decline from $29.07 billion during the same quarter in 2021. In the aftermath, the company launched a new ad format for Facebook reels and allowed advertisers to run ads on the Explore home page on Instagram.

"Right now, about 15% of content in a person's Facebook feed and a little more than that of their Instagram feed is recommended by our AI from people, groups or accounts that you don't follow," Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement last year. "And we expect these numbers to more than double by the end of next year."