Snapchat is embracing German publishers by expanding its Discover section (SNAP)

Bild, Spiegel Online, Sky Sport, and Vice will begin publishing content in German on Snapchat starting April 25, a Snap spokesperson told Business Insider. Like messages in the app, each publisher's collection of stories will disappear after 24 hours.

“We want Snapchatters everywhere to have content that is relevant to them, in their own language, from trusted media brands," Snap's VP of content, Nick Bell, said in a statement. "Starting today, German Snapchatters will for the first time have local content in Germany, in German, from German publishers."

Snapchat expansion into Germany marks the fourth international version of its Discover section to date. Discover began in English before a French version was launched in September 2016. A small Norwegian version with one participating publisher was made available in January — roughly half of all smartphone users in Norway are on Snapchat, according to eMarketer.

Creating language-specific versions of Discover in highly developed, monetizable countries falls in line with Snapchat's overall business strategy. Snapchat is also gaining momentum in Germany; a study by UM from November 2016 found that 24.3% of Snapchat users in that country said they opened the app every day, marking a 207% increase from the year before.

With Discover, Snapchat initially took a cut of the revenue participating publishers gained from video ads next to their stories. Recode reported in October that Snapchat started prioritizing a licensing model, which would let it keep all ad revenues in exchange for paying publishers an upfront fee. A Snap spokesperson told BI that the company is sharing ad revenue with publishers in Germany, not paying upfront.

Snap has said it intends to focus its advertising efforts on the world's top ad markets, which are primarily in North America and Europe. Total ad spend in Germany is expected to swell from $18 billion in 2016 to $21 billion by 2020, according to IDC.

Snap recently opened its first office in Germany and hired Marianne Bullwinkel as its manager for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. She previously held the same role at Facebook.

The additional focus on Germany, the world's fourth largest economy, comes as Snapchat has faced criticism for a perceived bias favoring affluent markets. A recent lawsuit by a former Snap employee, alleging that Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said Snap was "only for rich people" and not for countries like India, has caused a furor in India. Snap has denied that Spiegel made the comments.

(Disclosure: Axel Springer owns Bild, eMarketer, and Business Insider.)