Meta has begun ramping up its effort to change its in-stream ad labels from “Sponsored” to “Ad,” which is part of a broader refresh of its app presentation.
You may have noticed the change on Instagram already, with the regular “Sponsored” notifier on posts switched to a smaller “Ad” tag instead.
The “Ad’ marker is obviously a lot smaller, and potentially a lot harder for the regular user to note as they scroll through the feed. And that could be the intention, and with that in mind, it’ll be interesting to also see what regulators, including the increasingly stringent EU Commission crew, think about the update.
Meta has confirmed the update to SMT, explaining that: “We are replacing the ‘sponsored’ label with ‘ad’ on Instagram, maintaining our commitment to users for ad transparency while delivering a cleaner, simpler experience.”
The updated disclosure is being tested on Facebook, but only at a small scale at this stage.
It’s a fairly simple change, but it is a relevant one to note, particularly as it relates to ad performance, and potentially ad approaches, as a result of the change.
For example, if the “Ad” marker is less obvious, would it be of benefit to change up ad approaches to make ads seem more like organic updates, working with the less up-front disclosure. I mean, that is the type of thing that EU regulators are going to be watching, but it could also help advertisers align with the update, and get more benefit from their promotions.
It’s an interesting point of note either way, which could have an impact on ad performance, and how businesses look to utilize Meta ads with much smaller transparency indicators.
Meta hasn’t provided a timetable for a full roll-out of the update, but users will likely notice the “Ad” label appearing in place of the “Sponsored” tag over the next few weeks.
