Have you heard? The Super Bowl is coming up, and this time it’s Super Bowl L, or Super Bowl 50 as the NFL decided to ditch Roman Numerals this year. Regardless, it’s difficult to figure out whether or not people are more excited about the football itself or just the new influx of high-production ads and all the extra stuff that surrounds the game itself. These ads have become extremely popular and have a rich history of launching brands into the mindshare of millions of people. YouTube even has a round-the-clock channel for people to catch up on the ads. Instagram though, is changing some of the way they handle ads in order to let brands use some of their Super Bowl ads on the popular photo sharing network.
Super Bowl ads have become something of a ritual for the US audience, and it’s clear that services such as YouTube and Instagram want to get their own piece of the pie, too. Where Instagram is concerned, the service is introducing 60-second videos now, in order to allow brands to stream longer versions of their ads. A number of brands from around the globe are already getting used to the new feature, with T-Mobile showing an extended version of their Drake spot. Elsewhere, Guinness and Warner Bros will be using the longer ads to make the most of upcoming projects and campaigns. Instagram is saying that the service will roll out wider in the coming weeks, but some of these ads are already live on Instagram, such as the aforementioned T-Mobile spot.
Super Bowl Sunday is this Sunday, February the 7th, and it’s unsurprising that there’s more hype still being generated. Advertizing is big business, we only need to look at Google’s quarterly-earnings to realize that, but it’s also a way for companies to offset their free services without losing any money, and during big events like Super Bowl 50 firms like Instagram and YouTube will want to get as much traffic as they can. Turning on 60-second ads is just one more way for Instagram to cash in on the Super Bowl hype this year, and more changes will likely be introduced next year, too.