Instagram Testing Out Unskippable Ads: No You Can’t Scroll Past

There's nothing more frustrating than opening your favorite app, only to be met with unskippable ads that force you to wait before diving into the content you actually want. It’s the price we pay for free content, as these companies cash in on our attention. Joining in on the unskippable ad fun is Meta.

TechCrunch reported that they are testing unskippable ads on Instagram. The unskippable ads, force users to sit through a timed ad before they can scroll onward. It’s a feature similar to the free version of YouTube. This platform requires users to view ads before and in the middle of watching videos.

It even expanded unskippable, 30-second commercials to its TV app last year. Both YouTube and TikTok also slot ads between their shortform videos, but you can still swipe right past them.

In 2018, began showing six-second ads that viewers can’t skip by tapping on their screens. MarketingDive reported that When video ads first debuted on Snapchat in 2014, people could immediately skip it with a quick tap. That behavior, however, has led to average view times of less than two seconds on video ads. This apparently caused few advertisers to want to buy placements on the app. 

“We’re always testing formats that can drive value for advertisers,” a Meta company spokesperson told TechCrunch. “As we test and learn, we will provide updates should this test result in any formal product changes,” they noted.

Several X and Reddit users reported seeing the feature. One Redditor spotted the feature when scrolling through stories and posts. After a certain amount of scrolling, Instagram prevented them from going further until they looked at an ad. 

A follow-up post on Reddit clarified that if you click the info icon next to the ad break to learn more, you’ll see a message that reads “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.”

Instagram app user Dan Levy, posted a screenshot of the test to his account on X. The app stopped Levy from scrolling past the ad when it appeared, he said it was “just bonkers move to me.”

The majority of the reactions were negative. Some people threatened to close Instagram if they came across “ad breaks” like this. Others said they would stop using the app entirely. Additionally, commenters questioned whether this decision was driven by a need to increase engagement on ads, at the expense of the consumer experience.

Instagram already displays sponsored posts and ads between the content you’re scrolling through, whether it’s your home feed or Reels. The company has yet to mention where in the app the ad breaks show and whether the company was testing the feature globally.