Discord has been showing ads, intrusively, for years
this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2024
42 points (92.0% liked)
Technology
34395 readers
451 users here now
This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.
Rules:
1: All Lemmy rules apply
2: Do not post low effort posts
3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff
4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.
5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)
6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist
7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
sounds like it's about to get more intrusive
If it turns out that those ads somehow get through my AdGuard filter then it's a goodbye.
I got a thing that said "Lootboxes!" On the bottom right. I tried ignoring it for a day but that didn't seem to work. So, I clicked the "Didn't ask" button. We'll see how much Discord tries to test me before I jump ship to Matrix or Revolt.
I clicked on that, it was actually just an April fools joke, there was nothing to buy.
Yeah... to me it was just another one of those UI elements (like the Nitro Menu, games, etc.) that I just don't touch.
Sure it's an April fools joke, but the prospect of introducing ads seem just as much an April fools as what they did.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Discord had long been strongly opposed to ads, but starting this week, it's giving video game makers the ability to advertise to its users.
The introduction of so-called Sponsored Quests marks a notable change from the startup's previous business model, but, at least for now, it seems much less intrusive than the ads shoved into other social media platforms, especially since Discord users can choose not to engage with them.
Discord senior product communications manager Swaleha Carlson confirmed to Ars Technica that Sponsored Quests launch this week.
On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that it viewed a slide from a slideshow Discord shows to game developers regarding the ads that reads: "We’ll get you in front of players.
Sellis told WSJ that Discord will target ads depending on users' age, geographic location data, and gameplay.
In 2021, Discord enjoyed a nearly three-times revenue boost that it attributed to subscription sales for Nitro, which adds features like HD video streaming and up to 500MB uploads.
The original article contains 966 words, the summary contains 166 words. Saved 83%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!