Brief:
- Snapchat is offering discounts and reimbursements aimed at luring small business marketers to try advertising on its platform, according to a report in Business Insider.
- Among the reported offers is a promise to reimburse the costs associated with re-cutting videos to a vertical format so they can be viewed easily in Snapchat's Snap Ads program. Reimbursements max out at greater than $1,500, or 1% of the overall budget when the spend exceeds $40,000, Business Insider reported.
- In separate news, Snapchat plans to move into scripted content in Shows by the end of the year, according to Variety. Snapchat wants the programs to adhere to what it says is the optimal 3- to 5-minute length.
Insight:
Snapchat has, to date, often been prohibitively expensive for anyone other than big-name and big-budget brands. The new incentive and discount programs aim to address that reputation and bring more small- and mid-sized businesses into the fold — a necessary move if Snapchat wants to drive revenue and also fully leverage its growing focus on location-based marketing. Snap Inc., Snapchat's creator, needs to do more to impress investors that have grown frustrated at its slow revenue and user growth since going public in March.
The platform has particularly felt a pinch from Instagram, whose Stories feature cribs directly from the Snapchat model. It was reported in July that Instagram was ramping up business pressure on Snapchat by offering advertisers a chance to test new ad products for free, and Snap's move to push discounts comes as a counter to that.
In regards to the scripted Shows development, it underscores Snapchat's ever-growing emphasis on video content in a TV-like mode. Snapchat's head of content Nick Bell said his goal is to turn mobile phones into "the remote control for your TV consumption," per Variety. A move into scripted shows would be an expensive gambit, but it would diversify the content offerings the platform offers users.
