Home Platforms Snapchat Dips Its Toes In Programmatic, But Advertisers Want To See More

Snapchat Dips Its Toes In Programmatic, But Advertisers Want To See More

SHARE:

programmatic-snapchatOn Thursday – amid strengthening rumors of an IPO – Snapchat finally released its anticipated ads API to enable better automation, targeting and measurement. It is running with nine partners.

Advertisers can buy Snap Ads – full-screen, sound-on, vertical video ad units – programmatically on the platform.

“Advertisers [can now] glean insights and better optimize their campaigns,” said Viji Davis, chief marketing officer at Omnicom’s Resolution Media. “Now you can adjust and optimize bids by segments, glean insights on what messaging and creative combos work and optimize ads towards what resonates with consumers.”

The API offers real-time reporting on KPIs like open-rates, screenshots and view times. It also gives advertisers insight into how Snapchat performs against other social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter.

“I think they are really hearing loud and clear that reporting has always been their Achilles heel,” said James Douglas, director of IPG Mediabrands’ social marketing unit Society.

He called the release of the API a “good stride.” But for Douglas and other hands-on media buyers, being limited to a select group of partners who have total control over the experience is frustrating.

“There’s still a level of hand-holding here,” Douglas said. “I want to be able to touch, see and understand the auction in great detail.”

Douglas is impressed, however, with Snapchat’s advancements in targeting. Advertisers can target users based on content affinity, customer email lists and lookalike models. Snapchat can also create custom solutions by vertical, including weather targeting, dayparting and TV syncing.

The API marks Snapchat’s first foray into programmatic. But the platform isn’t fully automated just yet.

Snapchat’s highest-engaging ads, sponsored geofilters and lenses (users play with the latter for an average of 20 seconds), can still only be purchased through direct buys.

Subscribe

AdExchanger Daily

Get our editors’ roundup delivered to your inbox every weekday.

“It’s important to recognize that today, the API is available to us exclusively for Snap Ads,” said Jamie Tedford, CEO of Brand Networks, a Snap Ads partner. “It adds programmatic elements to buying on Snapchat, but I don’t see any signal that Snapchat is moving [toward] all programmatic.”

But it won’t be long before advertisers want all programmatic on Snapchat, Douglas said. That could put Snapchat in the sticky spot of maintaining its user experience (UX) while giving advertisers what they want.

“Snapchat absolutely has to continue to evolve the API to include those units,” Douglas said. “That will be particularly challenging for them because that’s a UX element.”

When it comes to creative, Snapchat has set the bar high. While marketers can A/B test messages, they also want proven results before diving all-in with expensive, custom placements.

“It’s a new type of ad unit and brands need to ensure that they are budgeting for the creative development,” said Lance Neuhauser, CEO of 4C insights, another Snapchat Ads partner. “We have to be realistic about just how much brands will submerse themselves out of the get-go.”

Douglas put it a bit more bluntly: “Snap Ads have a fairly high minimum when you can go to Facebook and Twitter and basically put in your credit card and spend 20 cents.”

For now, Brands are willing to experiment. Neuhauser guesses that by 2018, brands will see Snapchat as “an evergreen, always-on channel that needs to be leveraged to its full effectiveness,” he said.

The most interesting play for Snapchat is its potential to steal dollars from TV, especially for brands trying to increase brand awareness with younger demographics, Douglas said.

“Younger audiences are becoming very difficult to reach on linear TV buys,” he said. “If you’re a niche advertiser trying to do broad-based reach for younger audiences, Snapchat can provide a really unique capability.”

Must Read

Comic: Off-Platform Media

How RMNs Use MFA And Cheap Inventory To Game Attribution Rules

Retail media is built on its attribution quality, but real purchases can be gamed by programmatic metrics and create perverse incentives for RMNs to serve ads across low-quality inventory.

There’s A Lot Wrong With Google’s And Meta’s Non-Transparent ‘Refund’ Practices

Google and Meta are playing with fire. Their opaque refund practices have already exposed them to customer blowback – and could lead to class-action lawsuits by disgruntled advertisers.

Comic: The Great Online Privacy Battle

How US Intelligence Agencies Buy And Use Programmatic Data For Surveillance

Mike Yeagley, an independent contractor who has scouted and acquired commercial data and technology on behalf of intelligence agencies, is one of the earliest evangelists of using ad tech tracking information to identify and surveil government targets.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters

Comic: The MFA Cafe

Adalytics Report Torches Ad Tech For Touting MFA Prevention While Scarfing MFA Supply

Practically every ad tech vendor has put out a press release in recent months full of bluster about cutting out made for advertising sites – and yet supply sources remain oversaturated with garbage inventory.

Cloud-Based Collaboration Is Ad Tech’s Post-Cookie Lifeline – But Will It Last?

Cross-cloud data collaboration technology is the best bet for a post-cookie solution. But it’s vulnerable to similar privacy concerns.

Topsort Raises $20 Million To Seize The Post-Cookie Market Opportunity This Year

Topsort raised $20 million, with plans to seize the 2024 opportunity for post-cookie ad tech.