Snapchat announced that it now includes ads in the main Chat tab. These ads, called “Sponsored Snaps,” have been in testing for several months and are now being rolled out to a wider audience.
Sponsored Snaps will appear between messages in the app, but the company said these ads will be “visually different” from regular messages. While users will be aware that unopened ads will disappear from the Chat tab over time, they can respond to pop-up ad messages with text or click a link for more information.
These advertising contents are presented in the form of full-screen vertical videos, and Snapchat announced that it has made its first collaboration with Disney for this new advertising format. This feature, which is still in the testing phase, will be available to users for the first time, especially with Disney content. If you start seeing ads like “Agatha All Along” in your Chat tab, feel free to give Snapchat feedback.
It’s true that we don’t like ads, but we must admit that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep our eyes away from sponsored content. Although Snapchat has over 850 million users, it has not yet found an effective way to turn this large audience into profit. Only 11 million out of 850 million people are registered for Snapchat+ subscription, which shows that the company is looking for different revenue models. Time will tell how disruptive or obtrusive Sponsored Snaps will be.
Snapchat announced another innovation
This is not the only innovation in Snapchat. The company also announced “Featured Places,” a new feature that adds sponsored locations to the “Snap Map.” This new program will start with McDonald’s and Taco Bell.