Facebook Stories Set to Get Ads as User Base Touches 300 Million

Facebook Stories and Messenger Stories now have more than 300 million users, the social networking company announced in post. More importantly, Facebook announced ads are coming to Stories on both its main app and Messenger. This comes about a year after ads were rolled out for Instagram Stories. The company has announced WhatsApp Status, the app's version of Stories, will be getting ads next year. The Facebook, Messenger and Instagram Stories - along with WhatsApp Status - are clones of Snapchat Stories but have far more users than the pioneer of the feature.

In a post on the Facebook Business page, the company said "To help businesses reach more people, we're now making Facebook Stories ads available to all advertisers around the world. Soon, you'll be able to extend the reach [of ads] and improve the performance of your stories ad campaigns in Messenger."

Facebook Stories ads will support tracking metrics such as reach, brand awareness, video views, app install, conversion, traffic, and lead generation. Brands such as iHeartRadio, Kettle Chips and KFC are among the advertisers who were part of the testing phase for Facebook Stories. The social media company claimed these brands have seen a "lift from their Facebook Stories ad campaigns."

Citing an Ipsos survey, Facebook said, "More than half of people surveyed said they're making more online purchases as a result of seeing Stories. In addition, 38 percent of people said that after seeing a product or service in a story they talked to someone about it, and 34% said they went to a store to look for it."