Facebook Launches Advertisements Globally for Instagram Reels

Facebook is launching advertisements globally on its TikTok clone Instagram Reels, the company said on Thursday.

The social media company, aiming to make money from its short-form video feature, began testing Instagram Reels advertisements in India, Australia, Brazil, and Germany in April. The tests ran with brands such as BMW, Louis Vuitton, Netflix, and Uber.

"We see Reels as a great way for people to discover new content on Instagram, and so advertisements are a natural fit," said Instagram's Chief Operating Officer Justin Osofsky. "Brands of all sizes can take advantage of this new creative format in an environment where people are already being entertained."

The company said that Reels advertisements, that will loop and can be up to 30 seconds long, will appear between individual Reels.

Facebook said Wednesday it will begin testing advertisements inside its virtual reality Oculus headsets in partnership with several game developers, including Resolution Games.

The small-scale test of VR advertisements are a bridge between the social media company's main revenue line of selling digital advertising and its growing investment to build virtual reality hardware as the next tech frontier after the smartphone.

Facebook said it will use the test to explore ways to help developers earn revenue on the Oculus platform.

“Our primary focus at Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) is to bring more people into VR, advance the consumer experience, and make progress on our longer-term augmented reality initiatives. We're also exploring new ways for developers to generate revenue—this is a key part of ensuring we're creating a self-sustaining platform that can support a variety of business models that unlock new types of content and audiences. It also helps us continue to make innovative AR/VR hardware more accessible to more people,” the company said.

Advertisements will begin to appear in Blaston, an action game developed by Resolution, and in other Oculus games over the coming weeks.

Facebook added that Oculus users will be able to hide individual advertisements or choose not to see advertisements from a certain advertiser.