Snapchat is going to run its first paid advertising spot this weekend in its "Recent Updates" section, the company says in a blog post.
The reason: "We need to make money," Snapchat admits.
The ads will only run in the United States, and it's not clear who the first advertiser(s) will be. But Snapchat says its goal is to make ads less "creepy" than other mobile ads, and it doesn't want to target users (although it's not clear what Snapchat could even target if it wanted to — it doesn't collect much user information at all).
"We won’t put advertisements in your personal communication – things like Snaps or Chats. That would be totally rude," Snapchat says. "We want to see if we can deliver an experience that’s fun and informative, the way ads used to be, before they got creepy and targeted."
This weekend we’re placing an advertisement in “Recent Updates” for Snapchatters in the United States. It’s the first time we’ve done anything like this because it’s the first time we’ve been paid to put content in that space. It’s going to feel a little weird at first, but we’re taking the plunge.
The best advertisements tell you more about stuff that actually interests you. Some companies spend a lot of time and collect a lot of data about you to figure that out. The product we’re releasing today is a lot simpler. An advertisement will appear in your Recent Updates from time to time, and you can choose if you want to watch it. No biggie. It goes away after you view it or within 24 hours, just like Stories.
We won’t put advertisements in your personal communication – things like Snaps or Chats. That would be totally rude. We want to see if we can deliver an experience that’s fun and informative, the way ads used to be, before they got creepy and targeted. It’s nice when all of the brilliant creative minds out there get our attention with terrific content.
Understandably, a lot of folks want to know why we’re introducing advertisements to our service. The answer is probably unsurprising – we need to make money. Advertising allows us to support our service while delivering neat content to Snapchatters. We promise that we’ll use the money we make to continue to surprise the Snapchat community with more terrific products – that’s what we love to do!
