Facebook brings its Canvas ad format to Instagram Stories

Instagram is announcing several new features for advertisers today.

The biggest is probably the expansion of the Canvas ad format to Instagram Stories (which supposedly reach 250 million people daily). While businesses have been able to advertise in Instagram Stories since earlier this year, this introduces a new, full-screen, interactive ad format to that mix.

“With the ability to utilize Facebook’s fast-loading full screen Canvas format in Instagram Stories, marketers are able to use the creative versatility of Canvas to tell compelling brand and product stories,” Instagram writes in a blog post. “This seamless extension of the full screen experience allows advertisers to capture the attention of customers with just a single ad.”

Instagram also says businesses will now be able to upload the media they used for organic Instagram Stories and save them for use in future ad campaigns through the Power Editor and Ads Manager. Plus, the company wants advertisers to incorporate Instagram Stories into their campaigns across Facebook properties — it says Stories can now be added to Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network campaigns through placement optimization.

And here’s some Instagram Stories news that’s not focused on advertisers: The company says users will be able to share Stories as a direct message to their friends. (If you don’t want people sharing your Stories this way, you can turn off the feature.)