Ads on Snapchat Are Coming They'll be opt-in and untargeted.
By Laura Entis
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
According to Snapchat co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel, ads are finally coming to the ephemeral messaging app.
"People are going to see the first ads on Snapchat soon," Spiegel revealed in an interview at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit, although he did not set a precise timeline for the rollout.
Unlike Facebook -- which allows advertisers to target specific users based on a wide range of factors including, recently, their exact coordinates – Snapchat's ads will not be targeted, Spiegel said.
In addition, the ads will be opt-in and appear within Snapchat's Stories feature, which allows users to create, share and view photos and videos from a specific event, such as a sports game, concert or holiday, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Related: Snapchat Valuation Skyrockets to $10 Billion Following New Funding
As the Verge notes, a company could potentially pay to place a snap in a story that relates to its product. For example, Budweiser may want to place a football themed snap inside Snapchat's Super Bowl story. Interested users could then click on and view the ad.
"We're cutting through a lot of the new technology stuff around ads to sort of the core of it, which I think has always been telling a story that leaves people with a new feeling," Spiegel said. "They're not fancy. You just look at it if you want to look at it, and you don't if you don't."
Following an investment by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Snapchat is now valued at $10 billion. But despite this eye-popping number, the ads will mark the first source of revenue for the three-year-old company.
