Snapchat Succumbs To Adverts This Weekend

Call it growing up or selling out, but Snapchat is finally embracing advertising, with the first commercially-motivated snap being pushed to US users of the ephemeral messaging service this weekend. The advert – from an unnamed vendor – will show up in the Recent Updates section of the iPhone and Android app, Snapchat says, and is the first of periodic sponsored content that will be appearing moving forward. The reason? Unsurprisingly, it's just about money.

Snapchat is bracingly upfront about that fact, pointing out that if they don't make cash then they can't keep providing the service itself. It's also fairly blunt about the trial-and-error approach that will be taken, at least initially.

For instance, there won't be any tailoring of commercials to the people viewing them, bar the fact that only those in the US will see this first example. While "some companies spend a lot of time and collect a lot of data about you" to fit message to audience, Snapchat admits, "the product we're releasing today is a lot simpler."

In fact, it could be mistaken for a regular snap from a friend, which is perhaps the point all along. The message will last for 24 hours and then automatically delete whether users have watched it or not.

While adverts are going to be a fact of Snapchat life moving forward, that doesn't mean they'll show up everywhere. The company says it has no plans to inject them into either users' own snaps or their chat conversations with others. "That would be totally rude," the company points out.

That advertising messages would be coming was signaled by Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel earlier this month, who argued that – if done correctly – they could tell a meaningful story rather than just being promotional. Whether that's actually the way they're received remains to be seen, but Snapchat needs to start doing something to justify that $10bn+ valuation.

SOURCE Snapchat