Instagram will be introducing ads to British users soon, as the Facebook-owned mobile photo service expands its advertising business beyond the United States.
Adverts which appear on users’ Instagram feeds will also begin appearing in Canada and Australia, Instagram said.
Instagram ushered in ads in the US last November, boosting the advertising reach of brands like Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and Levi’s jeans. The service has said that in some cases, the results generated by Instagram ads are "well above the ad industry’s average for performance".
Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 for $1bn, and in March the photo sharing platform overtook Twitter for amount of US monthly active users. The service said: "As Instagram builds its business, we’ve put our community first every step of the way.
"And since introducing ads last November, we’ve worked with a handful of top brands to draw creative inspiration from the community and create ads that were engaging and felt natural in people’s feeds."
Advertisers are banned from using Instagram’s filter settings, as to avoid false manipulation of products. US users still reacted angrily to ad introduction.
