The Instagram thread has begun testing video ads, and Meta announced on Thursday. The test makes the thread look like a competitor X, but it is an extension of the thread’s advertising initiative, which began last month when ads were opened to global advertisers.
The news was presented at Meta’s presentation at IAB NewFronts. There, many social media companies pitched themselves to advertisers.
In the thread, Meta says that “minority” advertisers will test 19:9 or 1:1 video ad creatives. However, the company did not share any other details regarding the pricing or frequency of these ads.
The update follows Meta’s recent announcement that threads will reach over 350 million active users. The app also saw a 35% increase in time spent on threads as a result of improvements to the app’s recommendation system, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors about Meta’s revenue call in April.
Meta has announced news about the thread, among other updates to its advertising products at the new front.
The company also says it is testing trending ads for its new short form video solution, reels, which are displayed next to the most trending reels from creators.
This week’s rival, Tiktok, has also introduced an expansion of a similar product called the Pulse Suite. This allows advertisers to sell themselves next to trending content from publishers of categories, holidays, tent pole moments, cultural events, evergreen content, sports, entertainment and lifestyle.
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Meta also tests trends in Instagram’s creator marketplace to help advertisers find popular trends and tests the creator market API to allow companies to find and connect with large-scale quality creators.
The company is also rolling out video expansions on its Facebook reels. This adjusts the video assets by generating invisible pixels in each video frame and increasing the aspect ratio of the more native experience.