Discord introduced Discord Ads Manager this week, a platform that centralizes the management of advertisements displayed on its service. According to the company, the tool supports forecasting, the creation of campaigns using objective-based bidding, and performance monitoring. Access is currently limited to selected advertisers, with broader self-service availability planned for early 2027. Discord said the self-service option will let smaller studios and marketers run campaigns without a direct sales relationship, regardless of their budgets.
The company is also rebranding and expanding its Video Quests format, which lets users watch video ads in exchange for in-game rewards. The format, previously tested in a beta with browsers and limited mobile testing, is now called Video Quests Reserve. Discord described it as a premium, reservation-based offering built for high-impact brand moments, giving advertisers a scalable, always-on way to drive outcomes such as impressions and clicks. Additional objectives for tracking are planned soon.
Discord said the updated video ads and Ads Manager will result in expanded targeting of its users. The company launched in 2015 and did not carry advertising until 2024, when it introduced Quests. Its advertising efforts are connected to a confidential IPO filing in January, according to a Bloomberg report that cited anonymous people familiar with the matter. The push is viewed as a way to increase Discord's value beyond premium subscriptions and game sales.
Adam Bauer, Discord's Global VP of Advertising, told GamesBeat this week that the company will keep investing in formats and features across the advertising lifecycle. He said that includes upper-funnel brand awareness as well as lower-funnel goals such as app installs and purchases. Bauer said the aim is to make Discord more accessible to businesses of any size and give them more ways to turn engagement into results.
Some users have reacted warily as Discord promotes its advertising business. Ads may be necessary for the platform to stay financially viable and free, but users worry that advertising and other recent changes, including age verification and AI moderation, could fundamentally alter the service. Discord co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy addressed those concerns with Engadget last year, saying he frequently raises the topic of enshittification in internal meetings. He said building a strong business and monetizing a product is not inherently bad and funds reinvestment, but that the company must be extremely thoughtful about how it does so.
So far, Discord's ads could be considered minimally intrusive, appearing as small pop-ups in the lower part of the screen and clickable sidebars that expand only through user interaction. Should the ads grow more aggressive in size or frequency, the company could quickly lose longtime users.
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