Snap to It: Snapchat’s Emerging Advertising Opportunities

Snapchat’s interactive and fun visual nature has always meant interesting opportunities for advertisers. From holiday-themed promotional filters to app install ad games, Snapchat, with 186 million users, continues to open avenues for advertisers to reach their platform’s core demographic of 18- to 24-year-olds.

Brands are responding. According to Ad Age, Snapchat generated $388 million in ad sales in the second quarter of 2019. That’s a healthy 48 percent increase from last year’s same quarter. Now, the app is evolving its advertising offerings with new features.

Extended Mid-Roll Video

Snapchat is extending its mid-roll video ad option length by offering the ability to run extended play ads up to 3 minutes. Previously, advertisers were able to create longer videos, but Snap users could only see them if they swiped on shorter versions of the ad to lead to the longer version. Now, longer video ads can be viewed immediately, though users can still tap their screens to dismiss the ad at any time.

By offering the extended video ads, Snapchat aims to allow advertisers the ability to use their current assets and not have a need to create shortened versions. As many brands are in search of reaching younger audiences, the new guidelines may lower the barrier to entry and allow them to tap into the Snapchat’s highly engaged audiences. 

Snap Audience Network

A second development involves the Snap Audience Network. First announced in April, the Snap Audience Network will allow developers the ability to build video ads in their own apps, similar to Snapchat’s unique format of full-screen, vertical video ads. 

This new ad network is expected to bring ads on Snapchat to third-party apps, boost revenue for the app publishers, and help Snap sell larger mobile audiences to advertisers. Snap is said to have signed Tinder, Houseparty, and Adventure Aide to allow those sites to use custom Snapchat Stories in their apps. This initiative gives would-be competitors the chance to partner with Snap rather to reach a broader audience on many platforms.

Data-Sharing

A “Share on Snapchat” button is now available to publishers to add to their site, streamlining the ability for media to be better integrated with the platform. Users can quickly and easily share what they are reading or viewing in a story or with a select group of friends. 

The new feature, combined with extended capabilities of Snapchat’s Creative Kit for Web, offers distribution accessibility to developers within the platform to then drive traffic back to their own sites. Users will also be prompted to subscribe to the partners’ Discover Channels upon sharing content. 

Dynamic Targeting

Geared toward retail, ecommerce, and direct-to-customer (DTC) brands, Snapchat will offer dynamic ads to provide users with a customized experience. Snapchat will connect to a brand’s product feed to automatically create personalized ads based on interests and online behaviors. Direct access to product information will increase relevancy, eliminating the need for advertisers to continuously update ads based on product or price changes. For ease of use, Snapchat has created five mobile templates in which the product can be placed.

All of these advances in Snap’s advertising seem to be finding their way to building sales with younger Snap users. A recent study measured Snapchat advertising campaigns across 32 brands and almost four billion impressions, and found that over 60 percent of sales from Snapchat’s ads came from younger influencers in the household. In other words, that core demographic of 13 to 24-year-olds on Snapchat are helping to drive purchase decisions. That’s powerful influence, and good news for Snap.