Snapchat has become an increasingly popular platform for advertisers in recent years. There are several key reasons why Snapchat is an attractive advertising platform:
Large and Engaged Audience
Snapchat has a massive daily active user base, especially among younger demographics. As of Q2 2022, Snapchat had 347 million daily active users. Approximately 75% of Snapchat’s daily active users are between the ages of 13 and 34. This makes Snapchat attractive for brands that want to reach younger audiences.
Snapchat users are also highly engaged with the platform. Snapchat reports that over 90% of their daily active users create Snaps every day. On average, Snapchatters spend over 30 minutes per day on the platform. The immersive nature of Snapchat, with its AR lenses and vertical video format, leads to significant user engagement.
Unique Ad Formats
Snapchat provides advertisers with ad products not found on other platforms:
- Sponsored Lenses – Interactive augmented reality lenses that utilize face tracking technology.
- Sponsored Filters – Location-based graphic filters that overlay user content.
- Sponsored Geofilters – Filters that can be accessed in specific locations.
These immersive ad units allow brands to leverage Snapchat’s fun, playful features. Snapchat claims that their AR lenses are “6x more likely to drive brand awareness and 3x more likely to drive intent purchase” compared to mobile video ads.
Vertical Video Ads
Snapchat popularized vertical video ads, which take advantage of Snapchat’s vertical-only video format. Vertical video provides a more natural viewing experience on mobile. Snapchat says that their vertical video ads have up to 9x more completed video views than horizontal video ads.
Innovation and New Ad Products
Snapchat is constantly innovating and launching new ad products for advertisers. Some examples include:
- Collection Ads – Scrollablecatalog-style ads
- Director Mode – Allows brands to leverage creators and influencers.
- Storytellers – Ad-funded short form shows.
- Sponsored AR – Businesses can sponsor their own public profiles to promote products.
Snapchat’s innovation keeps its ad product lineup dynamic and compelling for brands.
Advanced Ad Targeting
Snapchat lets advertisers target users based on:
- Demographics
- Interests & behaviors
- Custom audiences from advertiser data
- Contextual factors
- Predicted conversion value
- Lookalike audiences
Advanced targeting allows brands to hone in on the Snapchatters most likely to engage with their ads.
Strong Ad Performance
Across industries, Snapchat ads have been proven to deliver strong results:
- 75% of Snap Ads drove an immediate lift in ad recall.
- Snapchat’s AR try-on ad product drove 34% increase in purchase intent.
- Lens web view ads had 53% higher conversion rates compared to comparable social media ads.
Snapchat’s immersive ad experiences lead to increased engagement, brand awareness, and conversion rates.
Closed Ecosystem
Snapchat provides an isolated, “walled garden” environment with no organic reach or sharing. The closed ecosystem and lack of public commenting increase brand safety for advertisers.
Younger Demographics
As mentioned earlier, Snapchat has a very young user base. This makes Snapchat uniquely positioned to reach audiences aged 13-24. For brands marketing products relevant to younger consumers, Snapchat provides direct access to this coveted demographic.
Influencers and Creators
Snapchat has a thriving influencer ecosystem across both user-generated content and professional media channels like Discover. Snapchat claims over 500 channels in Discover reach over 125 million monthly viewers. Sponsored influencer content provides a way for brands to leverage Snapchat stars.
Shoppable Ad Experiences
Snapchat has been developing shoppable ad experiences that drive conversions. This includes:
- Shoppable AR Lenses – Users can swipe up to purchase featured products.
- Brand profiles – Enable social commerce capabilities.
- Dynamic Ads – Update based on real-time product catalogs.
As social commerce grows, Snapchat is providing new shoppable formats to monetize advertiser ROI.
Analytics and Measurement
Snapchat provides robust ad analytics for performance monitoring, including:
- Reach & frequency metrics
- Demographics reporting
- Returns on ad spend
- Conversion tracking
Analytics help quantify campaign impact and optimize future ad campaigns.
Conclusion
In summary, here are some of the key reasons Snapchat is attractive for advertisers:
- Huge young user base
- Vertical video and AR ad formats
- Constant innovation
- Advanced ad targeting capabilities
- Strong proven ad performance
- Walled garden environment
- Access to teens and young adults
- Shoppable ad experiences
- Influencer marketing opportunities
- Analytics for optimizing spend
Snapchat offers a unique advertising environment with innovative ad products. For brands focused on engaging younger consumers, Snapchat provides an unparalleled platform to reach this demographic and drive business results.
| Year | Daily Active Users | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 265 million | $2.5 billion |
| 2021 | 306 million | $4.1 billion |
| 2022 | 347 million | $5.0 billion (projected) |
This table visualizes Snapchat’s immense growth over the past few years in daily active users and revenue. The strong user engagement and monetization has attracted advertisers, while innovations like AR lenses and vertical video provide unique creative canvases. As Snapchat continues growing, it solidifies its position as a compelling platform for brands to reach young consumers.
Here are some additional key Snapchat advertising statistics:
- Snapchat reaches 90% of 13-24 year olds and 75% of 13-34 year olds in the United States.
- Over 40% of Snapchat’s daily active users create AR Lenses every day.
- Snapchatters open Discover content over 60 times per day on average.
- Snapchat averages over 5 billion Snaps created every day.
- Over 1.5 million Lenses have been created by Snapchatters using Lens Studio.
- Time spent watching Shows has increased by over 50% since last year.
- Snap Star creators in Spotlight receive over $1 million per month for entertaining Snapchat’s community.
These statistics showcase the level of engagement and creativity facilitated by Snapchat. For brands, this presents a huge opportunity to tap into an audience that is deeply immersed in the Snapchat experience.
Some examples of major brands finding success advertising on Snapchat include:
- Wendy’s launched a sponsored AR Lens that became Snapchat’s most viewed Sponsored Lens of all time.
- Universal Pictures generated over 224 million impressions and reached 16.3 million unique users with their Lens for The Secret Life of Pets 2.
- Nike leveraged Snapchat’s Web View ad format to drive a 22.5 point lift in ad awareness and 11.4 point lift in purchase intent.
- Disney’s Lenses for Frozen 2 generated 1.2 billion impressions over two days.
- Gatorade launched a Sponsored Lens on Super Bowl Sunday that accumulated over 115 million views.
These examples demonstrate how major advertisers are creatively utilizing Snapchat to drive branding and engagement. Based on these results, it’s no surprise that 86% of Snap Ads advertisers plan to maintain or increase their spend on Snapchat.
To conclude, Snapchat represents an advertising environment unlike any other digital platform. With AR innovation, vertical video, influential creators, and highly engaged young users, Snapchat provides marketers with unique storytelling abilities. For brands focused on reaching Generation Z, Snapchat simply cannot be ignored within the marketing mix.