Popular instant messaging app Snapchat will no longer be an ad-free platform as advertisements are soon heading to the app.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel announced Wednesday at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit that Snapchat will “soon” debut its first ads as the three year old startup is looking out to earn some more money.
“People are going to see the first ads on Snapchat soon,” Spiegel said addressing the attendees at the Vanity Fair event in San Francisco.
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The 24 year old Snapchat CEO said the ads will appear as messages within Snapchat’s “Stories” feature, in between videos and photos shared by users. The ads will not be targeted to individuals based on their preferences.
Additionally, these ads will be optional, meaning the user can choose either to watch it or skip.
“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 in an interview with Katie Couric.
“They’re not fancy. You just look at it if you want to look at it, and you don’t if you don’t.”
Furthermore, Spiegel stressed that unlike Facebook or Google, which serves ads based on user’s taste, Snapchat will not share any user data with marketers or advertisers.
Although exact time frame for the roll out of ads on the messaging platform remains undisclosed, Spiegel hinted that they ‘soon’ will be available within the stories.
Founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy, Snapchat currently has 100 million active monthly users with 400 million snaps being issued every day.
