Ads and Analytics are coming to Instagram Stories

70% of Instagram Stories are watched with the sound on, 20% of Stories result in a direct message from viewers, and 150 million Instagrammers use Stories on a daily basis.

Instagram launched its Stories feature in August of 2016, and today 150 million Instagrammers use Stories on a daily basis. If you’re not familiar with the Stories format, they are photos and videos that last for 24 hours, which users access at the top of their main feed, and via the Explore tab.

Instagram Stories has lead to increased engagement too, with roughly 20% of Stories resulting in a direct message from viewers. It’s also worth noting that 70% of Instagrammers follow a business account, proving Stories is a feature that businesses need to consider.

With more users and businesses using Stories, Instagram made a few big announcements…

Insights and Analytics for Instagram Stories

For Business Accounts on Instagram, you can explore Instagram insights such as reach, impressions, replies and exits for each story within Business Tools.

Mindy's Bakeshop Instagram Story from Instagram for Business on Vimeo.

Ads in-between Stories

Full screen ads are also coming to the Stories format in Instagram, allowing advertisers yet another space to promote content, special offers, and anything else via photos and videos in-between your followers’ Stories (via Instagram Business Blog).

Marketers can use targeting, reach, and measurement capabilities to personalize ads for Stories to get your content in front of the right people. To start, Instagram will test these ads with 30+ clients around the world, such as Capital One, Buick, Nike, Netflix, and Qantas. Instagram says 70% of watched stories have the sound on, which allows advertisers to deliver a more intimate and personalized content experience combined with useful targeting.

Airbnb Instagram Story from Instagram for Business on Vimeo.

In September of 2016 at Social Media Week London, David Cuen, International Lead of Instagram’s Community Team, mapped out Instagram’s 3 Core Values for Building a Global Community, which focuses on the 600+ million users, 80% of whom are outside of the US.