Discord Launches Ads Manager and Mobile Video Quests

Discord announced Discord Ads Manager and a new mobile-first Video Quests format on September 29, 2026, expanding its advertising offering for smaller studios, brands and performance marketers. Discord reports more than 90 million daily active users as of Q2 2026. Official announcement.

The launch pairs campaign-management tools with rewarded video advertising. Advertisers get more control over campaigns, while players choose whether to watch in exchange for digital rewards.

Discord Ads Manager brings campaign tools together

Ads Manager is Discord’s first campaign-management platform. It brings planning, campaign setup and reporting into one workflow, with self-service intended to open access to advertisers that previously needed a direct sales relationship.

Key capabilities include:

• Campaign planning: forecast delivery and build campaigns with objective-based bidding.
• Auction pricing: ads compete through a dynamic cost model rather than a fixed CPM; advertisers can adjust bids as performance changes.
• Performance reporting: monitor results through first- and third-party reporting and adjust budgets during the campaign.

EMARKETER’s launch coverage highlights the potential to bring more smaller advertisers onto Discord. For media buyers, variable pricing makes cost per qualified action an important measure when evaluating a test.

Mobile Video Quests reward viewers with Orbs

The new Video Quests format is built for shorter, repeatable mobile interactions:

• Watch and earn: players receive Orbs after approximately 15 seconds.
• Initial objectives: campaigns can focus on impressions and clicks, with additional objectives planned.
• Reserve option: the earlier product becomes Video Quests Reserve, a premium reservation offering with delivery and rewards tied to full video completion.

These details are set out in Discord’s announcement. Participation remains optional, and Orbs can unlock eligible perks such as Nitro credits and profile customizations. Quests FAQ, Orbs FAQ.

Discord reports a 97% median ad completion rate for Quests, based on internal data. As Marketing Dive notes, that figure describes the established Quests offering; it is not a performance guarantee for the new format or an individual campaign.

Access is rolling out in stages

Ads Manager currently has managed access for selected advertisers. Fully self-serve access is planned for early 2027. The announcement does not publish a minimum spend or price benchmarks. Discord launch details.

Visit Discord Ads Manager to explore the portal. Before committing budget, confirm account eligibility, supported markets, creative specifications and available measurement options.

Our assessment: game studios and brands with a clear gaming audience have the strongest reason to evaluate this launch. Start with one business outcome and a capped test budget. Measure qualified visits, signups or purchases alongside rewarded viewing to judge whether the audience is taking useful action.

Keep campaign tracking clean

For campaigns with a website destination, build a tagged link with UTMCraft:

https://example.com/game?utm_source=discord&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=game_launch&utm_content=trailer_a

• Keep utm_source=discord consistent.
• Use utm_campaign for the promotion and utm_content for each creative.
• Test the destination and redirects before launch with the UTM QA checklist.

These are manual example values, not verified Discord dynamic tokens. In GA4, review Session source / medium, Session campaign and your chosen key event. Check channel assignment against Google’s definitions; a paid medium alone does not guarantee Paid Social or Paid Video.

UTMs measure tagged click-through visits. Keep Discord’s video engagement and reward metrics separate from website outcomes when assessing results.