Snap is now increasing its accessibility after piloting “first commercial” ads in April to offer mobile advertisers a way to ensure that their video ads are instantly available when people begin watching shows on Snapchat Discover.
In experiments with Tinder and NBCUniversal’s Peacock, the six-second, non-skippable format showed promising outcomes, not just in terms of higher awareness, but also in statistics like cost per completed view. Combining the first ad with more immersive formats such as AR lenses and filtres often enhances the chance that a Snapchat customer would be introduced to a brand encounter.
According to the company, over 60 of the shows appearing on Snapchat Discover nearly reached 10 million viewers in Q1. It also said at least three days a week, more than 80 percent of regular viewers watch Discover content, and that in Q2 the daily number of Snapchat users who watched shows increased more than 45 percent from a year earlier. According to details Snap provided, over 35 million people watched the original show “Will From Home” starring actor Will Smith.
Snap launched a slate of docuseries that will feature in the app’s category for video content from studios, publishers and influencers to build on Discover’s development. upcoming lineup includes, according to the company, ‘Honestly Loren’ starring social media star Loren Gray,’ Life’s a Tripp ‘with rapper Trippie Redd and’ Swae Meets World ‘with rapper Swae Lee.
In the past couple of years, Snap has rapidly expanded the range of video ad formats to give more opportunities for firms to participate in its programming. Last year, the company increased the time limit on video ads from 10 seconds to three minutes and modified its six-second ads to encourage viewers to swipe them to access a website, long-form video or camera attachment.
Snap later launched “extended play ads” that ran in Discover for as long as three minutes after displaying six seconds of non-skippable footage. Among the firms which tested the new longer ad format were Comcast’s Xfinity broadband service and carmaker Nissan.
The social app has gradually introduced more video programming to increase the number of time users spend on Snapchat, whose key messaging features give people, as per the company, a reason to open the app about 30 times a day on average. The business launched a series of short-form TV shows called ‘Snap Originals’ two years ago, which were shot in a vertical format, making them easy to watch on a smartphone.
The app also lets audiences swipe up to step inside AR scenes from the shows. Since then, on several occasions, Snap has extended the lineup to keep audiences interested and increase its ad inventory. The company launched hundreds of new features at this year’s Snap Partners Summit, including a “happening now” segment to highlight breaking news from media outlets such as ESPN, NBC News and Reuters.
