It’s time for BeReal to get real — it’s difficult to turn a profit on a social photo sharing app without selling ads or memberships. Now, after its €500 million exit to French mobile publisher Voodoo, BeReal is rolling out advertising in the U.S.
Its initial products include in-feed ads in the app’s same dual-camera post style, as well as full day brand takeovers. The app already tested ads with companies like Levi’s, Nike, Netflix, and Amazon, but will now launch a full U.S. advertising platform.
The company appointed Ben Moore, previously of TikTok, to lead a U.S. team focused on sales, partnerships, and growth.
As it seeks to woo advertisers, BeReal told TechCrunch that it has an estimated 40 million monthly active users, including 5 million monthly active users in the U.S. Overall, BeReal says that 85% of its users are Gen Z. The app also claims that in the U.S., France, and Japan — its top markets — 50% of users are active six days a week. (TechCrunch could not independently verify these figures).
The app today faces the challenge of staying relevant in a competitive social landscape where fads come and go.
Founded in 2019, the ephemeral social app didn’t boom in popularity until 2022, after it had secured a $30 million Series A round from a16z and Accel. Even Meta and TikTok were clamoring to capitalize on BeReal’s virality.
By October 2022, app intelligence firm Sensor Tower estimated that 53 million people had downloaded the app, though only about 9% of active Android users had opened the app daily. The app hit a cultural milestone when it was parodied on SNL that same month.
According to data from third-party analytics firm Appfigures, BeReal to date has been downloaded 115 million times on iOS and Android, with 33% of those downloads coming from the U.S. But over the last few years, downloads have slowed from its viral moment. In 2023, worldwide downloads totaled an estimated 31.5 million, which decreased 60% year-over-year to 12.7 million in 2024.
