BeReal launches its ad business in the U.S. just as others pull back

“From what I’ve heard from my contacts on the agency and brand side in the U.S., there’s a need for an alternative to the polished, less authentic content that users are consuming and they are seeing a rebalance of ecosystems,” said Ben Moore, who is joining BeReal as managing director of the U.S. on Monday, from Walmart Connect. “Agencies are definitely reevaluating where they show up and that’s where we come in.”

Another key opportunity on BeReal’s timing for this move is the ongoing uncertainty around TikTok, with President Trump announcing a second 75-day extension to the U.S. TikTok ban deadline last Friday, leaving advertisers, creators and users in an extended limbo.

“Not only is the context with other platforms [TikTok’s uncertainty] is in our favor, we feel like friends and agencies are ready to pull the trigger and shift some of those budgets to BeReal,” Moore explained. “But also, we’re ready. We have the team, we can support media buyers whether it’s on the brand or agency side. We can offer joint business plans and think of incentives in the same way other platforms have been incentivizing adoption of other platforms in the past.”

The hope is that this confluence of events helps pull in ad dollars into BeReal’s ads business, which it has been testing for the past six months with a number of big advertisers and Fortune 500 companies. Moore declined to say how many exactly. Nevertheless, he was keen to stress that the app is, understandably, open to any advertiser that might be weighing up where they spend their money now.

Or at least they can if they’re willing to spend a minimum of $10,000 to be one of the first advertisers on the app. If they do, they’ll have access to two ad formats: targeted in-feed ads and high-impact takeovers (exclusive ad placement for one full day, for maximum visibility). If these formats sound familiar, that’s probably not an accident since it means advertisers are able to easily move creative over from other channels without having to make too many costly tweaks.

“In-feed ads are one of our best-selling ad units because it’s the most seamless and non-intrusive format that has worked on other platforms in the past,” Moore said. “So when you think about rolling out your advertising offering, you start with branding awareness before moving down the funnel with better ad units.”

And with better ad units in mind, Moore explained that the team’s product roadmap consists of boosted posts, which will enable brands to boost organic content generated by BeReal users, and better targeting.

“We cover the basics when it comes to targeting, but we’re going to refine it at the zip-code level so BeReal is even more accurate for those brands,” he said, adding that that’s already been part of the conversations the team has been having with brands that already work with the platform including Nike, Netflix, Levi’s and Apple.

“They’re excited about being able to move down the funnel and have the opportunity to access more performance-based ad units. At some point, those early adopters will have priority access to those new formats that we’ll be rolling out between now and the end of the year,” Moore added.

Typically when thinking about performance, most advertisers think of the AI campaign tools on offer across the board. From Meta’s Advantage+ and Google’s Performance Max, to TikTok’s Smart+ and Pinterest’s Performance+ — these tools are being widely adopted not only for advertiser ease, but as a way for platforms to guarantee consistent revenue. Naturally, Moore and his team are already thinking of BeReal’s own spin on this.

“We’d love to have something ready before the end of the year because we know it’s a need in the market,” said Moore. “We currently offer creative resources to help brands adapt their content for BeReal, but we know that automation is the logical evolution to be able to monetize the platform. Being able to offer a seamless way of buying ads and reduce the friction of shifting some paid media dollars from one platform to another.”

Setting foundations for future expansion

To help lay the groundwork for BeReal’s bid for ad dollars, Moore is already being supported in the U.S. by a 10-strong team, but the company is aiming to double that headcount by the end of the year.

“Partner manager, agency, brands, even tech platforms is going to be one of the areas of hiring that we’ll concentrate on,” Moore said. “We’re also hiring for product marketing folks and product managers for our Paris office.”

Paris is likely a next move because the team is already seeing positive traction across Europe in the likes of France, the U.K., Italy and Germany. Which is why the team is already eyeing up their next market opportunities for ads.

“There is such good momentum in Europe that I’m pretty sure we’re going to consider those markets as well,” Moore said. 

Ultimately, the real test will be seeing just how much BeReal can differentiate itself from its peers to grasp both user and advertiser attention.

“I think we’re at capacity with social media platforms,” said Shamsul Chowdhury, evp of paid social at Jellyfish. “All these upstarts, there’ll always be niche ones, but there’s not really anything that’s gonna be in that same realm as Meta, or TikTok or Snap — the ones that are really well established. But I think that’s okay.”

So while BeReal might be accelerating its ad journey to keep up with the already oversaturated market, advertisers, for the most part, will likely take a wait-and-see approach.

“Any new platform needs to be evaluated through a business-specific lens: Who’s the audience? What’s the potential incrementality? Does it align with the brand and goals? Every decision needs to be precise and data-driven, especially in a volatile market,” said Ben Dutter, chief strategy officer at Power Digital. “We’ll watch BeReal’s next moves closely, but most clients are likely to take a cautious, wait-and-see approach.”

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