The release of the Instagram Stories five months ago now makes it a direct competition and a clone to Snapchat's daily stories, which is the main feature of the app. It reportsly logs over 150 million users daily, which means that it is no longer considered as a "free real estate." It is now one of the more viable foundations for ads on Facebook. 

Mashable reported that Instagram announced in January 11 that it will start to insert advertising videos to Instagram Stories to add more "analytics features for businesses." Since the daily users of Instagram Stories have the same statistcis as Snapchat's daily users, this makes the channel more irresistible to advertisers trying to reach specific markets.

Advertisers can create videos and slideshows of up to a maximum 15 seconds with sound. Instagram confirmed that 70 percent of watched stories are viewed with sounds on. The ads will not yet appear in the user's Instagram Stories as of now. Still, many of the advertisers are researching for more data insights to study the investment and to familiarize themselves with novel formats like this one.

For now,  Instagram is reportedly testing ads with clients including Capital One, General Motors, Buick, Nike, Yoox, Netflix, Qantas and Airbnb. "By creating and publishing experience-driven stories, we can truly captivate and reach travelers wishing to book aspirational trips on Airbnb," Eric Toda, global head of social marketing and content at Airbnb, said in a statement.

The potential for ads didn't come as a surprise. In another report from Mashable, during the launch of Instagram Stories, Instagram said it had plans to introduce advertising and more business tools. "We built the product for consumers and saw great adoption there," said Vishal Shah, director of product management at Instagram.