- Snapchat is bringing ads to users' chat feeds with "Sponsored Snaps" that are full-page Snaps that will expire if ignored.
- The platform has also revealed "Promoted Places", a way for brands to promote their locations on Snap Maps.
- Popular brands like Disney, McDonald's, and Taco Bell have partnered with Snapchat for the release of these features.
You may have come across ads on Snapchat while scrolling videos on the For You tab. Aside from that, the platform is almost entirely ad-free. That is about to change, as you will soon begin to see adverts in your Snapchat chat feed in the form of Sponsored Snaps and Promoted Places.
In a recent blog post, the company announced that it will start placing ads in more places within the app. These ads will be available in the form of Sponsored Snaps. Snapchat users will receive Snaps from brands like Disney, which is an official launch partner for the feature. Sponsored Snaps will appear in the main chat feed along with the rest of the messages from your Snapchat friends.
You won’t get alerts for Sponsored Snap and should be easily able to tell them apart from regular chats. If you ignore a Snap for too long, then it expires, being replaced with a new advert. Tapping on Sponsored Snaps will let you reply to them, or click on the link to learn more about it.
Snapchat is also launching Promoted Places in collaboration with McDonald’s and Taco Bell. This allows brands to promote their joints on Snap Maps, much like Top Picks. Snapchat mentioned that Top Picks helps drive 17.6% more visits to the highlighted areas, so Promoted Places should produce similar results.
The reason for these changes is the company’s struggling situation in the online advertising space compared to its competitors like Instagram and Facebook. So Snapchat is also amping up advertisements within the app, making them more prominent throughout different places.
But as always, I know a lot of regular Snapchatters won’t be happy with this addition. I also don’t believe Snapchat Plus members will get a pass, not until they increase the price of the subscription, which I hope they don’t. But what are your thoughts about getting more ads on the app? Let us know in the comments section below.
