Dive Brief:
- Changing the previous 12 brand cap, Snapchat has officially added Mashable, Tastemade and IDG to its Discover publisher portal.
- Through the portal, publishers can sell full-screen video ads between content and sponsor daily Stories.
- Per reports earlier this week, Vox.com is also expected to join Snapchat Discover lineup, though it is unclear what brand will be swapped out, if any.
Dive Insight:
Snapchat has expanded its branded Discover portal from a previous cap of 12 publishers to now 15 with the addition of Mashable, Tastemade and IDG. Snapchat has 100 million daily users and marketers can work with Discover brands to buy full-screen video ads that appear between content in addition to sponsoring daily Stories on the portal.
Because of lack of targeting technology, marketers are just happy to reach Snapchat’s largely millennial audience and budgeting the spend as similar to a TV ad. An industry insider told Digday, “Snapchat is a smart play if you’re a dominant player looking for that audience. If you have a massive budget and room to experiment, it can help drive awareness.”
According to industry experts Snapchat is also changing how publishers sell ads in their Discover channels, only allowing for five sponsored takeovers of their channels per month. Advertising on the Discover channels has been something of an issue with publishers using the channels for content more than advertising, averaging 110 daily stories published to the portal compared to 2.5 ads served per day.
Meanwhile, the messaging app has focused on back-to-school, landing several big-name advertisers, including Pink and Coca-Cola, looking to reach this young crowd. Through the Back to School and campus Live Stories, marketers can make sure they are targeting the right audience with their efforts.
Digiday reported that brands will pay 2 cents a view for their sponsored videos to appear in stories, and that 50 U.S. colleges will have their own Live Stories, exclusive to people on the respective campuses.
