When it comes to the world of online communities, no platform has surged as rapidly as Discord. But one question often remains at the back of users’ minds: “how does Discord make money?” Today, we dive into that very subject, exploring Discord’s business model, its financials, and the ways in which users can potentially monetize their interactions on the platform.
Table of Contents
What Is Discord?
To understand how Discord makes money, we first need to understand what Discord is. Born out of a need for better communication among gamers, Discord emerged in 2015 as a platform that provides voice, video, and text communication channels.
What differentiates Discord from other communication tools is its server-based structure. A user can create a server for a specific purpose, like gaming, hobbies, or even business collaboration. Within these servers, users can have separate channels for different topics, creating a well-organized and immersive communication experience.
Over the years, Discord has grown beyond its gaming roots to become a hub for various communities, including education, technology, art, and more. By June 2020, Discord boasted over 100 million monthly active users, a testament to its massive reach and influence.
What Does Discord Do?
Discord provides a platform for real-time communication among users. It not only enables text messaging, but also voice and video calls, media and files sharing across its various channels.
A core feature of Discord is its server-based structure. Servers are essentially individual communities where users gather around common interests. They can be public, where anyone can join, or private, invite-only spaces.
Beyond this, Discord offers various features that enhance the user experience. Users can customize their servers with roles and permissions, create bots to manage tasks or add fun elements, and use a host of emojis and GIFs to express themselves.
Discord has also been designed to work seamlessly with gaming experiences. It has integrations with many popular games, allowing users to share their gaming status, stream their gameplay, or even invite others to join their game directly from Discord.
How Much Money Does Discord Make?
Discussing “how much money does Discord make” is slightly tricky, given that Discord is a private company and isn’t required to disclose its financials publicly. However, we do know that Discord has several sources of revenue, which we’ll delve into shortly.
According to reports, Discord generated around $130 million in revenue in 2020, up from about $45 million in 2019. The significant rise in revenue indicates how quickly Discord is growing and the potential it holds in the tech industry.
How Does Discord Make Money?
Now, to answer the core question: “how does Discord make money?” The primary source of Discord’s revenue comes from its subscription service, Discord Nitro. Nitro offers enhanced features to subscribers, including higher video quality, server boosting, custom emojis, a special profile badge, and more.
Discord Nitro comes in two tiers: Nitro Classic for $4.99/month (or $49.99/year) and Nitro for $9.99/month (or $99.99/year). The higher-priced Nitro tier includes two server boosts and 30% off extra boosts. Server boosts improve the quality and features of a server, making it more attractive to users.
In addition to Nitro, Discord also makes money from its game store and game subscriptions, although the company discontinued its game subscription service in 2019 due to lack of use. However, it continued selling games individually.
It’s also worth noting that Discord has secured substantial investment throughout its existence, raising over $480 million from investors as of 2021. While not direct revenue, this funding plays a crucial role in Discord’s growth and monetization strategy.
Can You Make Money On Discord?
Another intriguing question is, “Can you make money on Discord?” The answer is yes, but it’s not as direct or straightforward as on some other platforms.
For instance, if you run a popular server, you could potentially monetize it by introducing exclusive membership tiers or selling merchandise. Similarly, you could use Discord to offer premium content or services to your followers, particularly if you’re a content creator, tutor, or consultant.
Discord also offers a ‘Partner Program’ where popular servers can get a share of the revenue from Nitro subscriptions originating from their server. So, in that sense, there’s a possibility of making money on Discord, albeit limited to certain users.
In conclusion, Discord’s growth has been fueled by its unique approach to online communication, a robust community-centric model, and a clear monetization strategy. And while “how does Discord make money” might be a complex question, the answer lies in a combination of value-added subscriptions, game sales, and third-party investments.
As the platform continues to grow and evolve, it will be fascinating to see how its business model adapts to ensure sustainability, profitability, and continued value for its vast and varied user base.
