Dive Brief:
- Publishers on Snapchat’s Discover portal can run ads, but Snapchat users can no longer share ads with their friends.
- Ad sharing is part of Snapchat’s latest negotiations with its publisher partners, including BuzzFeed, IGN and ESPN.
- Marketers already have concerns about advertising on Snapchat with one industry insider revealing its audience has a hair-trigger attention span for video ads on the platform.
Dive Insight:
Snapchat’s Discover portal publishing partners’ ads could be shared by Snapchat users, and then they couldn’t be shared, and the change is causing some friction with those channel partners. According to Digiday, industry sources say ad sharing is part of current negotiation between Snapchat and its publisher partners, and is expected to return at some point.
The move is a bit surprising on Snapchat’s part because it’s still feeling its way toward revenue, and sharing is a key element to social media advertising from the marketer’s perspective. It can be chalked up to growing pains in finding the balance between its audience and revenue from Snapchat. However, taking ad sharing away from its key source of income comes at a time where the industry has seen evidence Snapchat users are fickle to the point of 70% of video ads are left within three seconds. Marketers can also become fickle when deciding a social media platform isn’t delivering on engagement. Just ask Pinterest.
