The time has come: Facebook is turning on the Instagram money jets

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Big money ahead for Instagram

Facebook-owned Instagram just announced some big changes that could lead to a bonanza of new ad bucks.

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The photo-sharing app is opening up its ad network to advertisers of all sizes, and allowing them to show their ads to specific people using Facebook's ad targeting tools.

Previously, only a small group of select advertisers could run ads, and they could only target people based on their gender, age, and country.

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For advertisers, it means that buying Instagram ads tailored for specific users will become much easier.

For users, it means that ads will be much more relevant and, presumably, effective.

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For Facebook and Instagram, it means that they will likely be able to charge more for those ads.

How much more money could this bring Facebook?

A recent analyst note from Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimates that Instagram could become a $300 million business next year and a colossal $3.8 billion business by 2020. Facebook makes about that much quarterly today.

Instagram

Instagram


Instagram also announced a bunch of additional capabilities, like video ads of up to 30 seconds, landscape photos and videos to "give ads a more cinematic feel," and a product called "marquee" that Instagram says will drive mass awareness in a short-term frame, tailored to events like movie premiers or product launches.

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Instagram

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