Get ready for ads to be part of the blink-and-you'll-miss-it Snapchat experience. Users of the ephemeral messaging app will start seeing ads "soon," CEO Evan Spiegel said at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday.
“We’re cutting through the new technology around ads to the core of it, which is telling a story,” Spiegel said, according to Vanity Fair. The ads won't be "targeted" to individual users, nor will they be "fancy," he added. They will appear as part of "Snapchat Stories," a feature that lets users upload photos and videos based around a narrative like a vacation. Similar to the quick-disappearing Snapchat message, or "snap," a story lives for only 24 hours. The addition of advertising is something of a milestone for startups, as it typically comes after a growth period -- and when the bosses have investors to answer to. Earlier this year Snapchat raised funding at a reported valuation of $10 billion.
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