Snapchat is just for branding. Sounds about right? Or is it? Snapchat has been plugging away in the background running analyses on their base and working on new products, resulting in some new stats that have been released only a couple of weeks after the second launch of Spectacles, that are interesting, to say the least.
Based on Snap Inc. internal data as of Q4 2017. All ages are self-reported and unverified by Snap Inc. Unreported and unreliable self-reported ages represented approximately 16% of U.K. daily active users (DAUs) in Q4v2017
Yes, Snapchat’s audience is still young but it’s not just for teenagers. As Snapchat invests more in its products, they are hoping to grow that 35+ base even more as well. It is definitely a growing channel, so it’s not done yet.
And from an advertising perspective, they have also improved their proposition. Amongst expanding the creative capabilities of Snap Ads, Story Ads, Lenses and Filters they have taken a page out of Facebook’s book and have improved their self-managed platform so that advertisers can manage their activity with more control. Some great new features that come alongside this are:
• Dayparting
• Location Targeting
• Audience insights
• A new reach and frequency buying method
• Goal-based bidding
This feels like the first step in pushing Snapchat into a more DR space with some advertisers already playing around with GIFs and stills rather than investing in the fully immersive filters and lenses that Snapchat has to offer. From a creative perspective, this is great as advertisers will no longer need to make formats specific for Snapchat and can use content that is being used on other social platforms.
And to reinforce that DR focus, they have also been working on new ways of measuring success. They now break down their measurement into five groups, all using different tools to report back on;
1. Verification – measuring impressions and partnering with DoubleClick, Sizmek and Innovid
2. Viewability – measuring if the ad was actually seen by the user and working with MOAT and Integral Ad Science
3. Reach – measuring how many people the ad reached partnering with Nielsen
4. Resonance – looking at sentiment via Millward Brown/Nielsen and in-app polling
5. Reaction – this is following a user’s journey post interacting with an ad. In this instance, Snapchat has partnered with a number of third parties as well as their own internal tools including a new internal MMM team, Snap-to-Store, Snapchat pixel and SDK Partners.
It is certainly the latter measurement that will be the most interesting in reviewing the new ways our advertisers can use Snapchat.
All Response Media viewpoint
It is great to see Snapchat come to market with some new measurement tools as well as more options for self-managing the activity that can help bring down the price. This means that we can revisit where Snapchat sits and look to test this from a DR perspective. It is early days and Snapchat are keen to get more advertisers and users on their platform and their investment indicates that is what they are focusing on. We will be looking at our clients to see who the right fit is to be testing the new features to assess how big the opportunity is.
