Snapchat, the popular image-sharing app, has taken the first step in the monetization of its widely popular service. On Saturday, the company rolled out its first ad with sponsored content to its millions of users. Snapchat users were shown a 20-second trailer for an upcoming Universal Pictures' horror film, "Ouija," according to a report by Huffington Post. As promised, the company did not interrupt the users' communicating space and put out its ad in the "Recent updates" section.
Snapchat's "Recent Updates" section is dedicated to feature friends' "Stories." Moreover, the ads are based on the company's ephemeral concept, which makes it go away after 24 hours. Also, the ad will disappear from the feeds when a user leaves the app. For those who are concerned the new ad system will turn the Snapchatting experience sour, fret not: The opt-in ads will stop playing the moment the user closes them.
Snapchat already informed its users that ads were coming to the platform and the company's CEO Evan Spiegel took the initiative to make the announcement earlier this month. Last Friday, the company explained how the ads would work on its platform. It was clear that Snapchat ads will not be anything like the ones featured on sites like Facebook and YouTube, where users are forced to watch an ad before the original content is shown.
"The best advertisements tell you more about stuff that actually interests you," the company said in an official blog post. "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."
For those who missed the first Snapchat ad, embedded below is the official trailer of the movie "Ouija":
