Instagram Stories ads are full-screen vertical ads that Instagram shows between people's Stories. You can make one in two ways: boost a story you have already posted, from the Instagram app or instagram.com, or build a Stories ad in Meta Ads Manager and pick Instagram Stories as a placement. Either way the creative is 9:16 (1,080 x 1,920 pixels or larger), and Meta's Ads Guide asks you to keep roughly the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% of each side free of text and logos, because the profile icon and the call-to-action button sit there.
This guide covers both routes, the full specs, and the safe zone, using Instagram's and Meta's help pages as they read on 5 November 2026.
What Instagram Stories ads are
Meta describes Instagram Stories as short vertical images and videos that disappear after 24 hours. Stories ads appear to people between that organic Stories content, and they fill the screen.
Two details matter for the design. Stories ads carry a call-to-action sticker that Instagram places at the bottom of the ad by default, and for 9:16 ads you can change the sticker's position, size and colour in the Ad creative section of Ads Manager. Meta says it is introducing these stickers gradually, so you may not have them yet. Meta is also replacing the "Sponsored" label on ads with an "Ad" label.
You need an Instagram account to run ads on Instagram. If the client has never advertised there, connect their Instagram account to their business portfolio first.
Boost a story or build the ad in Ads Manager?
Both routes end in an ad that runs between Stories. They suit different jobs.
| Boost a story | Build in Meta Ads Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Instagram app or instagram.com | Ads Manager in a browser |
| Starts from | A story already on the account | New creative, or an active story |
| You choose | Goal, audience, daily budget, duration | Objective, budget, schedule, audience, placements, ad format, destination |
| Formats | One story card | Single image or video, carousel, collection |
| Not allowed | Polls, quizzes, music, link stickers, emojis, GIFs, copyrighted music, multi-card stories | The limits in Meta's Advertising Standards |
| Suits | A one-off push of a story that already did well | A client campaign with a lead form, several ads or more than one placement |
Sources: Instagram Help Centre, "Boost an Instagram story"; Meta Business Help Centre, "Create Instagram Stories ads in Meta Ads Manager". Read 5 November 2026.
For an agency, Ads Manager is usually the right home. It keeps the client's ads in one ad account with their other campaigns, it runs lead campaigns, and it lets you run the same ad in Facebook Stories and Reels without rebuilding it.
How to boost an Instagram story
Instagram lets you boost a story only if it is active (still visible on the profile), featured in a highlight, or reposted from the archive. In Ads Manager, only active stories show up when you build an ad from an existing post.
Check the story before you post it. To be eligible it must avoid polls, quizzes, music, link stickers and other complex creative tools, use only effects made by Instagram, avoid emojis, GIFs and copyrighted music, and be a single card. For most ads you can keep one interactive element: a location sticker, hashtag sticker, tappable text, countdown sticker or an @mention of your own account.
In the Instagram app, the steps are:
- •Go to your profile and tap your profile picture to open the story.
- •Tap Boost at the bottom of the story.
- •Choose a Goal, an Audience, a daily Budget and a Duration, then tap Next.
- •Tap Boost post.
On instagram.com it is the same, except Boost sits under More at the bottom of the story.
Instagram reviews the ad against its ad policies, sends you a notification at each stage, and starts it once approved. A boosted story keeps running for the duration you set, even after the original story expires from the profile.
Warning
Boost from instagram.com or Ads Manager, not the Instagram iOS app. Instagram's help page says that in most regions an Apple service fee of 30% of the ad payment, before taxes, may apply when you add funds to an ad account in the iOS app.
If the client's ads relate to credit, employment, housing, social issues or politics and they are based in or target the US, Instagram says you must pick the matching special ad category when you boost.
How to create Instagram Stories ads in Meta Ads Manager
These steps follow Meta's help page for Stories ads.
1. Start the campaign
In Ads Manager, click + Create campaign, choose the objective closest to the client's goal and click Continue. For a local service client collecting enquiries, that is Leads. Our Meta Ads Manager guide walks through the lead settings in detail. Name the campaign and click Next.
2. Set budget, schedule, audience and placements
Edit the budget, schedule, audience and placements, then click Next. You may see Advantage+ switched on for audience and placements. Leave placements broad if you want Meta to choose, or set them manually to include Instagram Stories. Our notes on ad placements explain the trade-off.
3. Pick the ad format
In Ad setup, choose Single image or video, Carousel or Collection. If you can't see them, click More options. Meta's page notes that the Flexible format left Ad setup in March 2026, and that collection may now appear under Format display options in Ad creative.
4. Add the creative and customise it for Stories
In Ad creative, add the media, text and destination. If you only have a still image, Meta's stories templates can turn it into a vertical animation. Then click Select a placement to edit, choose Instagram Stories, and adjust the crop and text for that placement.
5. Preview and publish
Select Stories and reels on the ad preview to see the ad as people will. Meta may apply its own creative optimisations to improve performance, and you can preview them under Advantage+ creative. When it looks right, click Publish. The ad then goes through Meta's review, and Meta says most ads are reviewed within 24 hours.
Instagram Stories ad specs
| Spec | Instagram Stories ads |
|---|---|
| Aspect ratio | 9:16 recommended; every feed ratio from 1.91:1 to 4:5 is also supported |
| Recommended size | 1,080 x 1,920 (Stories design page); 1,440 x 2,560 for image ads (Ads Guide) |
| Minimum size | 600 x 1,067 |
| File types | MP4 or MOV for video, JPG or PNG for photos |
| Maximum file size | 4 GB video, 30 MB photo |
| Video length | Up to 60 minutes; an image shows for 5 seconds by default |
| Codecs | H.264 or VP8 video, AAC or Vorbis audio |
| Primary text | 125 characters |
| Carousel in Stories | Up to 3 cards, 9:16, video up to 15 seconds |
Sources: Meta Business Help Centre, "Design requirements for Instagram Stories ads" and "Design specifications for carousel ads"; Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Stories image specs. Read 5 November 2026.
Our Instagram post size guide puts these next to the feed, Reels and carousel sizes, if you are producing one design for every placement.
The safe zone: keep the button off your offer
The call-to-action sticker and the profile icon cover part of every Stories ad. Meta's Ads Guide asks you to leave roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom and 6% of each side free from text, logos and other key elements. On a 1,080 x 1,920 canvas, our arithmetic puts that at about 269 pixels at the top, 672 at the bottom and 65 on each side.
Instagram's boost page gives a smaller figure for boosted stories: roughly 14% of the top and 20% of the bottom. We design to the stricter 35%, because the same file often ends up in Ads Manager and in Reels too, where Meta's Ads Guide uses the same 35% figure.
Meta's safe zone page adds two more rules. Phones taller than 9:16 may zoom the creative to fill the screen, which crops whatever sits outside the safe zone, or show it at 9:16 on a black background. And if a Reels ad carries a disclaimer, leave the bottom 40% clear.
Ads Manager has a Safe Zone guardrail you can switch on while you edit the creative. It draws the safe area as a yellow overlay, which is the fastest way to catch a phone number sitting under the button.
Stories creative for a local client
Specs keep the ad from breaking. The creative decides whether anyone taps. For local service clients, these are the habits we start from:
- •Put the offer in the upper half of the frame, inside the safe zone, so it is readable in the first second.
- •Show the real business: the clinic, the van, the person who will answer the phone.
- •Write one message per ad. Stories move fast, and a second offer gets skipped.
- •Burn captions into video so the message still works with the sound off.
- •Make the button text match the next step, such as Get quote or Book now, which Meta lists among its calls to action.
If you need a starting point for the copy, our free Meta ad copy generator drafts primary text within the 125-character limit, and the ad creative notes cover what to test first.
Running Stories ads for many clients
Once a Stories ad works for one client, the next job is giving it to the others without rebuilding it twenty times. In AdLauncher, the agency saves the ad as an approved blueprint with its 9:16 creative, copy and lead form, and each client launches it from their own portal without touching Meta. Every campaign is created paused, and leads sync back from Meta.
Sources
- •"Create Instagram Stories ads in Meta Ads Manager", Meta Business Help Centre, read 5 November 2026.
- •"Boost an Instagram story", Instagram Help Centre, read 5 November 2026.
- •"Design requirements for Instagram Stories ads", Meta Business Help Centre, read 5 November 2026.
- •"Design specifications for carousel ads", Meta Business Help Centre, read 5 November 2026.
- •Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Stories image specs, read 5 November 2026.
- •"About text overlays and the Safe Zone for ads on Facebook and Instagram", Meta Business Help Centre, read 5 November 2026.
- •"About ads in review", Meta Business Help Centre, read 5 November 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is Instagram's Stories ads feature?
It lets a business run ads between people's Instagram Stories. You either boost a story you have posted or create a Stories ad in Meta Ads Manager, and the ad fills the screen in a 9:16 vertical format.
How much do Instagram Stories ads cost?
You set the budget: a daily budget and a duration when you boost, or a daily or lifetime budget in Ads Manager. Meta has no fixed price per Stories ad. Avoid paying through the Instagram iOS app, where an Apple service fee of 30% may apply to funds you add.
Can I boost a story that has a poll or music?
No. Instagram says a boosted story can't contain polls, quizzes, music, link stickers, emojis, GIFs or copyrighted music, and it must be a single card.
How long does a boosted story run?
For the duration you set. Instagram says a boosted story keeps running after the original story expires from your profile.
Why does the button cover the text on my Story ad?
The call-to-action sticker sits at the bottom of the ad by default. Keep the bottom 35% of the creative clear, as Meta's Ads Guide recommends, or move the sticker in Ads Manager's Ad creative section for 9:16 ads.
What size should an Instagram Story ad be?
9:16, at 1,080 x 1,920 pixels or 1,440 x 2,560 pixels. The minimum is 600 x 1,067.
Can I add a link to a boosted story?
Yes, through an action button you add during ad creation, as long as the story has no sticker or interactive element already. Link stickers are not allowed in boosted stories.