If you think regular ads are irritating, wait until you see unskippable ones. We could see the “feature” soon on Instagram.
According to Techcrunch, Instagram confirmed that it is testing unskippable ads on its platform. These “ad breaks” have a countdown timer preventing you from scrolling through your feed until you see the ad.
Moreover, tapping on an ad break to learn more shows this message: “You’re seeing an ad break. Ad breaks are a new way of seeing ads on Instagram. Sometimes you may need to view an ad before you keep browsing.”
These ads are similar to what YouTube has on its free accounts, which, I might add are already frustrating to users.
For now, this feature is currently in limited testing, but the possibility of these ad breaks becoming a permanent feature exists.
Moreover, this could potentially pave the way for a paid subscription tier on Instagram, offering an ad-free experience. Whether users will be receptive to this change remains to be seen.
Image: Unsplash
