Instagram is testing a new advertising format, called Ad Break, which is far from unanimously approved! With this system, you will be forced to watch a 3 to 5 second advertisement if you want to continue browsing.

Instagram is testing a new advertising format, called Ad Break, which is far from unanimously approved! With this system, you will be forced to watch a 3 to 5 second advertisement if you want to continue browsing.

We have all become accustomed to the discreet, yet persistent, presence of advertising on Instagram. Whether through sponsored posts that almost look like normal content or stories highlighting brands, it is omnipresent. But Meta doesn’t seem to stop and seems to be getting a little too greedy. Many users on Reddit and on X complain about ads lasting between three and five seconds that appear while they are scrolling through their news feed. The worst part: impossible to pass them by pressing on the screen to pass them! This new advertising format, tested with a small group of users, is called Ad Break (“advertising break” in good French). And suffice to say that it is far from unanimous…

Ad Break: unwanted advertising on Instagram

According to initial feedback, the display is quite aggressive. If this allows Meta to generate more and more advertising revenue, it is very unpleasant in terms of navigation. The company is probably watching reactions and seeing if this new format can generate revenue without driving users away. But things seem to be going badly on this point… Many of them are threatening to leave the social network to move to its competitor, TikTok.

Meta has always made advertising its livelihood, with personalized ads – thanks to the collection of personal data – that seem to know exactly what interests us. But recent times have been rough for Facebook and Instagram, with the European Union imposing stricter privacy rules on social networks while dealing with the rise of TikTok. This is why the company is trying different solutions to earn more money, such as in-app purchases, much-maligned subscriptions and, now, these very invasive advertising breaks.

Let’s rest assured, this testing phase does not mean that Instagram will definitively adopt Ad Break for everyone. The company will take advantage of these trials to evaluate the impact of its new advertising format, both in terms of advertising revenue and customer returns. users. It is entirely possible that, faced with their discontent, she will backtrack. This was already seen in 2022, when Instagram copied TikTok too much, with an algorithm putting too much emphasis on “recommended content” and a new interface too close to that of its Chinese competitor.