Instagram stories ads examples: 7 live ads, sorted by job

Short answer: the best Instagram stories ads do one job per frame. A launch shows the product on a person or in a hand, a seasonal ad ties the product to a date, and a proof ad shows a group wearing the brand. Every one keeps its words out of the top 14% and the bottom 35% of the frame, where Instagram puts the profile row and the call to action.

Below are 7 ads that ran on Meta in October 2026, taken from the public Ad Library in the US. Five are full-screen 9:16 creatives. The other two are shorter, closer to the 4:5 feed shape, and we say where that matters. The Ad Library shows the creative, not the placement each view came from, and not the results. So read these as patterns, not as proof of what won. If you want feed ads instead, our Instagram ad examples post covers static feed ads.

What is an Instagram stories ad?

An Instagram stories ad is a full-screen vertical ad that Instagram shows between people's stories. Meta's words: "These fullscreen vertical ads appear to viewers between organic Instagram Stories" (Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Stories image, 2026). We cover the organic stories you post yourself separately in Instagram story ideas.

The specs Meta publishes, from its image and video ads guides (2026):

What this means for a DTC brand: an image story can be on screen for as little as 5 seconds, so the picture has to make the point alone. A video of 16 seconds or longer "may be split into separate Stories cards", so the first card has to work on its own. Our post on Instagram story ad video length goes deep on that split. For every other Instagram size, see our guide to Instagram post size.

Which story ads launch a product?

A launch story has one job: show the product in use, so the viewer knows what it is in one look.

Gymshark: one set, one color. The picture has no words at all. A woman in a pink Gymshark sports bra and shorts leans on a gym machine between sets, and the shark logo sits on the bra. The pink set fills the middle of the frame, and the brick wall behind her is dark and plain.

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What to copy. One product, one person, one color that owns the frame. Put the launch words ("now live", the collection name) in the ad text and keep the picture clean, so nothing important sits under the call to action.

What does a launch look like when the product is small?

Heyhae Gel Nail sells a nail gloss, a product too small to read on a body. So the hand holds the bottle up to the camera, and the words do the explaining: "The finishing touch that has you talking with your hands." A pill above the headline lists four claims: 60% plant-based, vegan, cruelty-free and 9-free.

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What to copy. For a small product, fill the frame with the hand and the pack, not the room. Name the product category in the headline, because the viewer cannot tell nail gloss from nail polish at a glance.

Which story ads tie the product to a date?

A seasonal story gives the viewer a reason to buy now without a discount. Biosil shows its Advanced Hair + Nail Care box under the headline "Stronger, healthier nails in just one month." and a second line under it: "Get your claws Halloween-ready."

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The date does the work an offer would do. Halloween is a few weeks away when the ad runs, and "in just one month" lines the result up with it. The hand in the shot has dark, pointed nails, so the picture shows the Halloween look the line promises.

What to copy. Pick a date your buyer already has in the calendar, then say how your product gets them ready for it. Keep the product box in the center of the frame, where nothing covers it.

Where should a discount go on a story?

On the picture. In a full-screen story, the picture is what the viewer sees first, so a deal written only in the ad text is easy to miss. None of the story-shaped ads we could check put a price or a percentage on the picture. If yours does, write the offer in large type inside the safe middle band, and keep it to one line: "25% off your first order" reads in one look.

Which story ads look like a creator's own story?

UGC-style story ads borrow the look of a normal story: a phone camera, a real room, a person talking to you. Meta's partnership ads are the paid form of this. A partnership ad lets a brand run an ad with a creator or another business, and "the advertiser and partner accounts are featured in the ad's header" (Meta for Developers, 2025).

What this means for a DTC brand: the creator's name sits at the top of the story, where people look first, so a creator the audience knows does the stopping for you. Shoot it on a phone, in the creator's own space, and let them say the product name in the first second.

What about a founder story?

A founder story is the owner talking to the phone camera about why the product exists. In the 166 ads we pulled from the Ad Library for this post, none was founder-led, so we have no live example to show you. If you test one, keep it to one reason and one product, and put a caption on the screen: Meta lists video captions as "optional, but recommended" for Stories (Meta Ads Guide, 2026).

How do story ads use social proof?

Social proof in a story is a group wearing the product: it says other people already bought it, without a word. Gymshark shows three women crossing a city street, each in a Gymshark set, with the logo on their socks and shorts.

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What to copy. Put 3 or more real customers in one shot, in your product, doing something ordinary. Then add the number or the review line in the ad text. For more patterns built on reviews and numbers, see our social proof ads guide.

What makes an Instagram story ad work?

A story ad works when the message sits where nothing covers it. Meta's guidance for Stories is to leave "roughly 14% of the top, 35% of the bottom, and 6% on each side of your asset free from text", logos and other key elements, so the profile icon and the call-to-action button do not cover them (Meta Ads Guide, 2026).

On a 1080 x 1920 story, that is about 270 px at the top, 670 px at the bottom and 65 px on each side. What this means for a DTC brand: your headline, price and logo have to fit in the middle band, roughly the space between the top seventh and the bottom third.

Which ad gets the safe zone right?

Heyhae runs the same nail gloss in more than one layout. In one, the headline "Like lip gloss for your nails." sits about a quarter of the way down, under the row of claims. All the words stay in the middle band.

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In another, "Post-gel nails feeling brittle? Hydrate them with every coat." starts about two thirds of the way down. That is inside the bottom 35% that Meta asks you to keep clear, so the call to action can sit on top of the headline.

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The Biosil ad above does it the safe way: its headline sits near the top of the middle band, and the product box is in the center. Drop your own story into the Instagram story size checker below. It draws the covered areas on your file, and nothing is uploaded.

What should the first frame and the call to action do?

The first frame has to name the product or the problem before the viewer taps on. Heyhae opens on a question about brittle nails, Biosil on a result. For video, Meta lists both sound and captions as "optional, but recommended", so make the first card readable with the sound off.

You choose the call-to-action button from Meta's list when you set up the ad. For a story image the list includes Shop now, Learn more, Sign up, Book and Get quote, and availability depends on your industry (Meta Ads Guide, 2026). Pick the one that matches the next step: Shop now for a product page, Book for a service.

Should a story ad use different creative than a feed ad?

Yes, when the feed version has text near its edges or a small product. Meta's feed spec is 4:5 at 1440 x 1800 px, with a 40-character headline (Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Feed image, 2026). The Stories spec is 9:16 and lists only primary text, with no headline field.

Gymshark's product shot below shows the gap. It is a pair of shorts on a plain background, cut to a shape shorter than 9:16. In a full-screen story, a shorter picture leaves empty space above and below it, and the product gets smaller.

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The table sums up the decisions:

What this means for a DTC brand: make the 9:16 version first and crop the 4:5 from it. A 9:16 frame keeps its middle band when you cut it to 4:5, but a 4:5 ad shown as a story gets empty space or loses its edges.

How do you create Instagram stories ads in Ads Manager?

You make a story ad in Meta Ads Manager like any other ad, then keep the Instagram Stories placement on and upload a 9:16 file. The steps, from Meta's ads guide and its developer documentation (2026):

1. Pick an objective. Stories images support Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App promotion and Sales (Meta Ads Guide, 2026).
2. Set placements. If you set none, Meta considers all default placements, Instagram Stories included. To run only on stories, choose the Instagram story position by hand (Meta Marketing API, placement targeting).
3. Upload a 9:16 file. 1440 x 2560 px, JPG or PNG up to 30 MB for an image.
4. Write the primary text. Meta recommends 125 characters.
5. Choose the call to action that matches the next step.
6. Preview the story placement and check that nothing important sits in the top 14% or the bottom 35%.

One detail on step 2: the same Meta page says that when you exclude a placement, you can let up to 5% of spend go to each excluded placement "when it's likely to improve performance". What this means for a DTC brand: excluding a placement does not always mean zero spend there, so check the breakdown by placement after launch.

How Selzee makes Instagram ads like these

Selzee researches your brand first: your site and product pages, your reviews, and the ads you and your competitors run on Meta and TikTok. Then it recreates ads that are winning in your market right now, rebuilt with your products, fonts and colors, and new ads arrive every day.

Every ad comes with the angle and the insight it is built on. Drafts render sized to the placement, so you approve the ones you like and ship them in 1 click. Selzee makes static ads, which is what every story above is. Selzee made the Bombas ad below in 4:5 for the feed.

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To try it on one product today, the Instagram ad maker builds ads from your product page.

Instagram stories ads examples: FAQ

The short version

Give every story ad one job: a launch, a date, a creator post or proof. Shoot or design in 9:16 first, keep your words in the middle band, and put any offer on the picture, not only in the text. Then check the frame before it runs.

If you want story-ready ads for your own brand every day, start with Selzee for free.