New Delhi: Social media giant Facebook Inc said on Thursday that it will begin testing advertisements on Instagram Reels in India as it aims to expand revenue from its short-form video feature. It will also launch this feature in a few other countries including Brazil, Germany, and Australia.

The social media platform plans to cash in on the popularity of Instagram Reels in India — a fast-growing social media market. 

“The introduction of ads is an indication of how strong the momentum is for Reels," said Facebook vice president - global business group Carolyn Everson. "It is a big deal for marketers."

Facebook plans to test other features in India, such as letting content creators share Reels videos on their Facebook accounts, according to a report published by Reuters. As with other content on Reels, ads can be up to 30 seconds long and users can choose to skip the ads.

The Mark Zuckerberg-owned tech behemoth also announced that it will let advertisers select categories of video content they want to place ads on, such as videos about children and parenting, animals and pets, or fitness and workouts. Advertisers typically use Facebook to target certain users by their interests.

In addition to this, the social networking platform will begin testing sticker ads for Facebook Stories. Brands can create stickers that creators will place in their Stories, and influencers will earn a cut of any sales made through the sticker ads.

According to government data, India has as many as 41 crore Facebook users and as many as 21 crore people who use Instagram.