Discord to start showing ads in the coming week after resisting for almost a decade

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, popular gaming social media platform Discord will no longer remain one of the few ad-free havens in the tech market. The startup, which boasts over 200 million monthly active users, has announced its plans to begin displaying advertisements “in the coming week”as a means to boost revenue.

“According to the WSJ, the paid promotions will be provided by videogame companies and will reward users for completing in-game tasks as their friends spectate on Discord. Additionally, the platform intends to expand its sales team by recruiting over twelve new employees.”

Despite the prevalence of ads on free or subscription-based platforms, such as streaming services, Discord has remained resistant to this trend since its establishment in May 2015, almost nine years ago.

Despite WSJ’s report that Discord ads can be disabled in a user’s settings, it remains unclear whether this option is available for all users or just subscribers.

According to Peter Sellis, senior vice president of product at Discord, advertisements will be displayed in the lower left corner of the screen and will be targeted based on the user’s gameplay, age, and location.

Rewards will be given to users who complete advertised in-game tasks while at least one of their friends is present.

According to Bloomberg, Discord’s current sales stand at $600 million, and the company is contemplating the possibility of an IPO, or initial public offering, in the future. In fact, InvestorPlace.com has listed Discord as one of the most highly anticipated IPOs of 2024, describing it as a potential “cash cow”despite the recent layoffs of 17% of its workforce.

In 2021, Microsoft made a bid of $10 billion to acquire the startup, but they famously declined the offer. Despite their discussions, Microsoft was ultimately unsuccessful in their attempt to acquire Discord and the company remains independent, at least for the time being.