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Is Discord an advertising company?

Discord sells ads and has added Quests, Video Quests, Orbs and Ads Manager since 2024. Here's the timeline and what Discord tells advertisers.

Last updated on November 5, 2026

Discord sells advertising, and its own press releases describe "the continued growth of Discord's advertising business" and a new tool, Ads Manager, for "Brands of All Sizes".12 Discord hasn't said how much of its revenue comes from ads, and Digiday reported in January 2025 that most of it still came from Nitro, Discord's paid subscription.3

Did Discord always show ads?

In September 2021, CNBC reported that Discord "does not make money from advertising" and quoted its then CEO, Jason Citron, saying "If you don't pay for the product, you are the product".4 Discord hired a team of experienced platform and gaming executives and launched its first ad product, Play Quests, in March 2024, Digiday reported.3

In March 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Discord would start showing ads in the coming week, and that Discord said you could turn the ads off in your settings. The Journal wrote that the ads were a change for Discord, whose CEO had said many times that it wouldn't rely on advertisers the way Facebook and Instagram do.5

When did Discord add each kind of ad?

  • In March 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Discord would start showing ads from game makers within a week, with gifts for tasks in a game.5
  • In September 2024, Digiday reported that Discord had hired Adam Bauer as its vice president of sales "with the explicit goal of growing Quests."6
  • In October 2024, Discord started testing Video Quests and wrote that "developers have been asking for more ways to bring their games to our users."7
  • In January 2025, Jules Shumaker, formerly Unity's chief revenue officer, joined Discord as its first chief business officer, according to Digiday.3
  • In March 2025, Discord announced its first mobile ad format.8
  • In July 2025, Discord launched Orbs worldwide, a virtual reward you earn from Quests, and said "advertisers no longer need to create their own reward."9
  • In September 2025, a new version of Discord's privacy policy added "sponsored content" to how Discord is funded, as our page about Discord and your data shows.
  • In October 2025, Discord started testing Arena Quests, brought Video Quests to mobile and announced two ad measurement partners, AppsFlyer and Gamesight.1
  • In August 2026, Digiday reported on Play Quest+, which links your game account to Discord and rewards actions inside a game, such as finishing a match.10
  • In September 2026, GameSpot reported that Discord was showing FanDuel ads to US users, and Discord told GameSpot the sponsorship was a limited US test and that "Discord's policies still prohibit ads for traditional real-money gaming, including casinos and sportsbooks." It also said these ads "are intended for adults".11
  • In September 2026, Discord opened Ads Manager to some advertisers, with self-serve access for everyone planned for early 2027, and added new mobile Video Quests.2

What does Discord tell advertisers?

Discord's own page for advertisers says "Our rewarded format motivates even the most skeptical audiences to engage with your ad". It also says friends who see you accept a Quest can join in, and calls that "the ultimate endorsement."12

In March 2025, Peter Sellis, then Discord's senior vice president of product, said in a press release "Our mission is to create the most authentic, player-centric advertising platform in the galaxy."8 Discord's Ads Manager press release from September 2026 cites a "97% median ad completion rate" for Quests and "more than 90 million daily active users".2

In February 2026, Discord's company page on LinkedIn invited game studios to its booth at GDC in March to learn about "Quests Advertising Solutions" and its other products for game developers.13 In May 2026, it wrote that a Quest for the game "Where Winds Meet" made Discord "the top channel for new PC installs during launch week, at $0.46 per install."14

What have Discord's leaders said about ads?

Discord's chief business officer, Jules Shumaker, told Digiday in January 2025 that Discord was starting with game advertisers before advertisers from other industries, and said "We could open it up to everyone right now and be wildly financially successful; I don't think we have an economic decision at all. But the player is at the epicenter".3

In the same interview, Shumaker said "I think the most powerful ad format in media is the reward-based ad format."3 In March 2025, Sellis said "Expanding our advertising platform to mobile is an obvious, natural evolution in our strategy."8

In a blog post in March 2025 about the first year of Quests, Sellis wrote "When they earn one reward, we've found they actually come back for more."15 In September 2026, Bauer told GamesBeat that Ads Manager was "a milestone of our business."16

Do people ask Discord for Quests?

Discord says some people do, and its head of global ad sales, Adam Bauer, told The Drum in November 2025 that people asked on Reddit why they hadn't been served Quests yet. He said "They were searching for them."17 In the same interview he said "Advertising wasn't part of the original plan" and "Incentive-based advertising is critical".17

On November 7, 2025, a Discord employee shared The Drum's interview with Bauer on LinkedIn and wrote that Discord's teams had "intentionally built Discord's ad formats to respect how our community wants to engage."18 Peter Sellis, Discord's senior vice president of product at the time, reshared that post on LinkedIn with this comment.19

gen z literally just begging Nicholas and Ben for more ads — how did they do it

Discord's own press release from October 2025 says players are "proactively seeking out new Quests to complete", which is the same thing Bauer told The Drum.1

Has Discord said anything about keeping ads in check?

Speaking of Discord's internal meetings, its co-founder and CTO, Stanislav Vishnevskiy, told Engadget in June 2025 "I'm definitely the one who's constantly bringing up enshittification."20 He added "It's not a bad thing to build a strong business and to monetize a product" and "we have to be extremely thoughtful about how we do that."20

Discord's Quests FAQ says that taking part in a Quest "is completely opt-in",21 and you can turn off personalized Quests and hide some topics in Discord's settings for Quests. Hiding all Quests takes a client mod, and those stop working in Discord's new desktop app.

Do Discord's ads have anything to do with an IPO?

Some news reports have linked Discord's ads with a possible IPO, such as TechCrunch's report on Orbs in May 2025, and you can read what the press wrote about it.

Does Fluxer show ads?

fluxer.com shows no ads and has no advertising partnerships, and you can read how Fluxer makes money and what Fluxer does and doesn't do with your data.

Discord is a trademark of Discord Inc., and Fluxer isn't affiliated with Discord.

Further reading

Sources

  1. Discord Launches Newest Ad Format and Partners with AppsFlyer, Gamesight for Ads Measurement, Discord, 2025-10-02, accessed 2026-11-05. The quote is from Adam Bauer. 2 3

  2. Discord Opens Advertising to Brands of All Sizes With Ads Manager and Video Quests, Discord, 2026-09-29, accessed 2026-11-05. 2 3

  3. Discord's advertising push continues: A Q&A with new Discord CBO Jules Shumaker, Digiday, 2025-01-17, accessed 2026-11-05. 2 3 4 5

  4. Discord CEO on social audio app's next big spends after recent $500 million funding, CNBC, 2021-09-22, accessed 2026-11-05.

  5. Discord to Start Showing Ads for Gamers to Boost Revenue, Salvador Rodriguez and Sarah E. Needleman, The Wall Street Journal, 2024-03-30, accessed 2026-11-05. A summary is on Slashdot, 2024-04-01. 2

  6. Why Discord is making key hires to build out its advertising business, Digiday, 2024-09-20, accessed 2026-11-05.

  7. Checkpoint Reached: New Updates on our Quest to Connect More Game Developers with Players, Peter Sellis, Discord, 2024-10-03, accessed 2026-11-05.

  8. Discord Announces First Mobile Ad Format, Broadening Advertising Opportunities, Discord, 2025-03-20, accessed 2026-11-05. 2 3

  9. Discord Launches Orbs Globally: New Virtual Rewards Transform Brand Interactions into More Player Benefits, Discord, 2025-07-14, accessed 2026-11-05.

  10. Discord adds lower funnel with outcomes push, Digiday, 2026-08-21, accessed 2026-11-05.

  11. Discord Begins Rolling Out Age Verification-And A Sponsorship With FanDuel, Heidi Kemps, GameSpot, 2026-09-23, accessed 2026-11-05 through an archived copy.

  12. Advertise Where the World Plays, Discord, accessed 2026-11-05.

  13. Post by Discord, LinkedIn, 2026-02-13, accessed 2026-11-05.

  14. Post by Discord, LinkedIn, 2026-05-20, accessed 2026-11-05.

  15. Checkpoint 2: Our First Year With Discord Quests, Peter Sellis, Discord, 2025-03-31, accessed 2026-11-05.

  16. Discord expands ad business with new Ads Manager and mobile-first Video Quests, GamesBeat, 2026-09-29, accessed 2026-11-05.

  17. Discord on turning ads into rewards – and how Gen Z are actually asking for them, Margo Waldrop, The Drum, 2025-11-07, accessed 2026-11-05 through an archived copy. 2

  18. Post on LinkedIn, LinkedIn, 2025-11-07, accessed 2026-11-05.

  19. Peter Sellis's activity on LinkedIn, LinkedIn, a reshare of the post from 2025-11-07, accessed 2026-11-05.

  20. Discord's CTO is just as worried about enshittification as you are, Igor Bonifacic, Engadget, 2025-06-05, accessed 2026-11-05. 2

  21. Discord Quests FAQ, Discord, edited 2026-08-31, accessed 2026-11-05.

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