Discord Opens Auction Ads to Select Buyers; Self-Service Planned for Early 2027

Discord’s September 29 announcement opens its new Ads Manager under managed access for select advertisers, with fully self-serve buying planned for early 2027. That future opening matters to smaller game studios and other marketers: Discord says they previously needed a direct sales relationship to run campaigns. The manager is not yet open to every buyer.

For participating advertisers, the buying model changes from a fixed cost per thousand impressions to an auction with variable prices. Discord says buyers can adjust bids and budgets, use forecasting and objective-based bidding, and see first- and third-party performance reporting. Those controls give the selected group more room to manage a campaign as it runs.

Two rewarded-video choices

Discord is also introducing a mobile-first Video Quests option that awards users Orbs after they tap and watch for about 15 seconds. Its current objectives include impressions and clicks. The earlier Video Quests offering becomes Video Quests Reserve, a reservation-based option tied to completion of the full video.

The formats serve different campaign choices: a shorter rewarded viewing interaction or a reserved, full-video-completion purchase. Discord announced mobile Video Quests in March 2025, so this change concerns the format and buying terms, rather than the arrival of mobile Quests.

Advertisers in the managed group can weigh the auction and video options now. Others have Discord’s planned early-2027 self-service expansion to watch; the company has not specified an opening date.