Snapchat, making video advertising more prevalent on its platform, said it is rolling out its First Commercial product to all U.S. advertisers after a successful beta trial.
With First Commercial, advertisers are assured that the first thing a Snapchat user sees when they open the app is an unskippable six-second commercial. The product has been in beta since April and has been used by brands including NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Tinder.
Snapchat said that during the beta trial, the lift in brand awareness is more than two times higher for Snapchatters whose first ad on the platform is a commercial versus a Snap Ad.
“We know we can count on Snap to consistently deliver creative tools and media formats that help us engage with our audience in novel ways, putting our members at the center of our brand while giving them the freedom to create in ways that inspire them,” said Nicole Parlapiano, VP of North American marketing for Tinder, the first brand to run First Commercial alongside a national lens and national filter on the same day. Snap said the cost per completed view of the commercial was 4 cents.
“For the launch of our Photo Verification feature, we used a National Lens and National Filter to highlight how these selfies can make your Tinder experience more authentic,” Parlapiano said. “At the same time, we added a First Commercial to the mix so that we also reached users watching shows on Snapchat’s Discover platform. All together, these three touch points drove meaningful adoption of the feature across the US.”
Snapchat said that First Commercial will be available in Snaps Ads Manager in mid-October.
First Commercial is part of a push to sell more video advertising to fit with programming on its Discover Platform as the number of Snapchatters watching shows on the platform has increased by 45% in the second quarter compared to a year earlier.
As part of that effort, Snapchat has hired video ad sales executives, including David Roter of Twitter and Peter Naylor of Hulu.
Snap also said it will launch three new docu-series featuring talent that it said resonates with its community.
Honestly Loren, from ITV America and Sirens Media, features social media star Loren Gray exploring what happiness really means to her. Life’s a Tripp from Trooper Entertainment features Tripp Redd, who is voting for the first time in 2020 and takes a journey to experience major issues from drug addition to police reform with celebrity friends. Swae Meets World from Big Fish Entertainment, is centered on Swae Lee as he prepares to launch his first solo album apart from his brother.
All three series are scheduled to debut in 2021.
