Snapchat turned to the spirit world — and Hollywood — for its first advertisement.
The ephemeral messaging app posted a 19-second trailer for the Ouija movie this afternoon, popping — with a “Sponsored” label — into U.S. Snapchat users’ “Recent Updates” section. It will be available for viewing on Snapchat for the next 24 hours, before disappearing.
We pulled a copy for those of you who don’t have an account:
Snapchat announced Friday that it would run its first ad this weekend, part of an admitted need to start generating revenue from an audience that’s estimated to be more than 100 million strong.
“Understandably, a lot of folks want to know why we’re introducing advertisements to our service,” Snapchat wrote in a blog post. “The answer is probably unsurprising – we need to make money. Advertising allows us to support our service while delivering neat content to Snapchatters.”
Going with Ouija, an youth-targeted Universal Pictures horror film that opens next Friday, seems like a smart move for a service that’s extremely popular among young millennials.
It remains to be seen how Snapchat users will respond to ads in what was previously an advertisement-free zone (although many companies have created marketing presences on the service). The early reaction on Twitter ranged from confused to angry to excited:
Snapchat, please only give me stories from people I have added on snapchat, not these football games and oujia boards — Coheed (@5eba55) October 18, 2014
Well now that oujia is on snapchat I'm not using it — Cassie Schmidt (@cassie_schmidt9) October 18, 2014
WHY IS THERE THE OuJIA THINg THERE, I CLICKED IT SND I HSD A MINI HEART ATTACK OMG pic.twitter.com/X6FcDmXlEG — tairy (@tairyyy) October 18, 2014
HIW DID THAT OUJIA THING GET ON MY SNAPCHAT? — Daija Knight (@daijafoknight) October 18, 2014
Can someone tell me what the Oujia thing is doing on my snapchat — Ixchel (@radixchel) October 18, 2014
oujia snapchat story giving me nightmares though — kristen (@rauhlatheart) October 18, 2014
Woah there snapchat, if my videos can’t be more than 10 seconds long, your Oujia board video can’t be 20 seconds ✋ — Noah F. (@noahh_fran) October 18, 2014
But why can’t my snapchat videos be as clear as the Oujia trailer? — Sawsan – سوسن (@Sawsanina) October 18, 2014
Oujia get the hell off my snapchat — Jace (@JacerBob) October 18, 2014
oh hell no the movie oujia is putting snapchats no thank u — s (@ssIoane) October 18, 2014
I was on snap chat saw the oujia video with ear phones on on a very high volume made me scream and cry a little
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