Instagram to introduce some photo, video ads

10/4/2013

NEW YORK — Instagram, the mobile photo-sharing app owned by Facebook Inc., says it will start showing “occasional” photo and video advertisements in the coming months.

The step is Instagram’s first toward making money. While users can now follow brands and businesses, part of the app’s appeal has been its simplicity and lack of advertisements.

To ease users into seeing ads, the company said in a blog post Thursday that it will focus on showing “a small number” of “high-quality photos and videos” from a handful of brands.