If time is money, then ads on Instagram weren’t just a matter of time – they were a matter of money.

At Facebook’s (News - Alert) July earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that ads are set for integration with Instagram. Facebook acquired the mobile photo app for $1 billion in September 2012, and is now looking to monetize the platform itself. According to Zuckerberg, “We’re building Instagram to be a business…we expect that over time we’re going to generate a lot of profit from it.”

This year, Facebook generated $656 million from mobile ads, which equates to 41 percent of its ad revenue and 36 percent of its total revenue (which is up 53 percent from a year ago). Instagram users claim 10 percent of Facebook’s clientele – Instagram has 130 million monthly active users, and Facebook has 819 million overall. With those numbers, ads on Instagram would certainly be reaching a wide enough audience to make an impact.

A recent poll indicates the public response to Instagram as an ad platform. Besides about 13 percent of those polled who remain ambivalent on the issue, those who disagree barely outnumber those who agree – 45 percent and 42 percent, respectively. However, Instagram faced an outcry of opposition from users who didn’t want their personal photos sold to advertisers. Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, responded with a statement that this would not be the case: “It is not our intention to sell your photos…We want to create meaningful ways to help you discover new and interesting accounts and content.”

Neither Systrom nor Zuckerberg provided a timeline for ad implementation on Instagram; but we can assume it’s only a matter of time – and money – until ads start cropping up.