BeReal rolls out in-feed ads in the US, after Voodoo acquired it for €500M; BeReal says it has ~40M MAUs, including 5M in the US, and 85% of its users are Gen Z
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
BeReal had previously explored paid features as an alternative to advertising, then began opening the app to brands and celebrities in 2024 through its earlier paid-feature alternative and brand and celebrity accounts. In-feed ads make the monetization path explicit following Voodoo's acquisition.
The reported 40 million monthly users also recasts earlier engagement disclosures, including BeReal's claim of more than 25 million daily users in 2023 amid disagreement over its audience trend. That earlier audience debate makes the US rollout a consequential test of whether its user base can support an ad business.
First-order effects
- US BeReal users will begin encountering ads inside the feed, while advertisers gain a direct route to the app's reported US audience.
- Voodoo and BeReal add an advertising revenue stream alongside the acquired platform's social product, with the initial commercial focus confined to the US.
Second-order effects
- The rollout turns BeReal's Gen Z-heavy audience into a product for brand budgets, increasing pressure to demonstrate that ads fit the app's social experience without undermining user engagement.
- Brands that had been given a presence on BeReal now have a paid distribution channel on the same platform, linking the earlier creator-and-brand expansion more directly to advertising spend.
Third-order effects
- If the US format is retained and expanded, BeReal's evolution would illustrate how smaller social networks move from differentiated, low-commercialization products toward conventional ad-supported models after acquisition.
- The durability of this approach will depend on whether a platform built around spontaneous friend sharing can monetize attention without accelerating the audience volatility that had already been contested in prior coverage.
The trend: BeReal is part of a broader shift in which acquired consumer social apps seek to convert youthful audiences into advertising businesses after initial growth and engagement differentiation.