Meta has announced that advertisers will soon be able to use augmented reality (AR) filters in sponsored Instagram Reels and Facebook Stories.
Announced at the IAB’s NewFronts in New York, the changes build on Meta’s previous use of AR in ads for the Facebook and Instagram Feeds and Instagram Stories. According to Meta, these ads drove incremental ad recall with the 18-24-year-old demographic 87 per cent of the time, outperforming non-AR-enabled ads.
Beauty retailer Sephora was able to test AR Reels ahead of its launch. The company ran a campaign that had users press their thumb to their phone screen to generate an “aura vibe” filter to help them pick a fragrance and make a purchase.
Meta also said that it would be making Reels Ads more interactive, with larger call-to-action buttons containing more information about the brand behind the ad. The button would include an ad thumbnail, headline, and additional business details, like the website URL, to help direct interested customers to click.
Meta will also let Facebook users pause a video ad and preview where the link will take them. For shopping ads, Instagram Reels is also getting a carousel capability that, instead of pointing to a single retailer or site, will let users swipe through multiple product images without leaving the Reel they’re watching.
What’s more, Meta is bringing third-party measurement to Reels Ads campaigns with DoubleVerify, IAS and MOAT all signed up. The firms are also helping Meta test and launch a Reels Viewability reporting option.
Meta was also keen to talk up its investments in AI and how these will improve ad rankings and performance.
“It’s also driving efficiency for a suite of ad products, eliminating many of the manual and tedious steps of creating an ad,” said Nicola Mendelsohn, Meta’s head of global business group.
She added that Meta’s investments were “already paying off, especially with Meta Advantage, which is our brand name for our portfolio of AI products. Meta Advantage leverages machine learning and AI to help advertisers test and learn but to also realize their campaigns fast and help them acquire and grow their customer base.”
