After having previously embraced Instant Articles, the Guardian has now dropped running content through Facebook’s fast-loading article format, Digiday reports. The Guardian thus follows in the footsteps of other publishers that have either dropped Instant Articles entirely or lowered the number of articles they publish within the format.
Previously the Verge reported on news publishers leaving Instant Articles, after having concluded that the format didn’t live up to its original promise. A large number of publishers have reported that the revenue Instant Articles provide has been disappointing, and that Facebook’s focus on video has meant that news articles haven’t received the kind of visibility on users’ News Feeds that the publishers would have hoped.