Ads on Instagram ‘within a year’

Instagram, the hugely popular photo and video sharing service, is to begin placing ads within the next year according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

“We want to make money in the long term, but we don’t have any short-term pressure,” said Emily White, Instagram’s director of business operations, as she confirmed that the app was laying down the groundwork to monetise.

Her challenge, the paper reports, is to figure out how to “integrate marketing without jeopardising Instagram’s cool factor.”

There was no indication from White on what form the advertising might take, however she indicated that search ads, or ads in Instagram’s “Discover” section, were an option.

Facebook acquired Instagram for around $1 billion in 2012 after the profitless app spent two years rapidly rising in popularity. Today more than 150 million people have downloaded the service and over 16 billion photos have been shared.