Snapchat, the popular photo messaging application, may start serving up advertisements in the near future as the company is reportedly holding talks with advertisers and news providers.
Popular with the younger smartphone users, Snapchat, has managed to gain a significant share of the messaging market over the last couple of years, and is one of the top 10 most downloaded applications on both Android and iOS. With nearly 27 million users and a decent amount of funding from investors, the makers of Snapchat may be finally looking at generating revenue from their app. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the company is seeking deals with advertisers and news content providers.
Snapchat had previously declined a $3 billion takeover bid from Facebook and has managed to grow faster throughout 2014 with over 500 million photos and videos shared daily, along with good daily usage numbers. Many players such as Facebook, Microsoft and Instagram are trying to get their hands dirty with the disappearing messages premise and it would make sense for Snapchat to generate revenue while there's still no real competition in that space. However, users who value privacy may not be too pleased if the app starts showing targeted ads based on shared content.
As of now, there is no fixed deal, but it has been revealed that the company is working on a service called Snapchat Discovery which would show videos, news and related content to the users. The service is expected to launch in November.
Source: WSJ (Requires subscription) via Digital Trends | Image via NBC News
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