Last week Snapchat revealed the nine ad partners it is working with on its recenty launched Ads API. It's in a closed beta with a number of brand partners and in Australia, Unilever and McDonald's are the first advertisers to get on board to buy ads programatically on the platform.
Globally the nine tech partners are 4C, Adaptly, Amobee, Brand Networks, Social Code, Sprinklr, TubeMogul, Unified and Vaynermedia. McDonald’s and Unilever are working with Brand Networks and Accuen, and their media agency partners OMD and PHD.
In the US, Gatorade and Nissan are among the first advertisers using the beta API.McDonald's has a history of being an early adopter. It was among the first to launch video ads on Facebook and Instagram.
The API was announced in June and launched to simplify the process of buying ads on the platform, so marketers can buy ads at scale, and is available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Snapchat has also shifted its targeting capabilities up a gear.
It is also now possible for advertisers to target users based on 'Snapchat Lifestyle Categories' based on behaviour and the content users watch, Snapchat Audience Match, which is based on email/device matching and lookalike audiences as well as standard age, gender, location, device/OS and carrier targeting.
The API also offers real-time reporting, data visualisations, and analytics tools to help advertisers understand and optimise their activity, as well a the ability to target ads using measures such as day-part targeting, local weather or in sync with TV programming.
Snapchat also offers brands the ability to A/B test creative executions and targeting to optimise delivery and pricing through its ad tech partners.
In a statement issued later by Omnicom Media Group, the media agency said that by centralising Snapchat alongside other social media activity, trading teams can track how each social platform performs against each other, and optimise media plans in response.
Tom Fryett, programmatic director at OMG said: “It’s been great to collaborate closely with Snap Inc as they go from zero to hero in terms of programmatic. The initial capabilities of API access are impressive and the addressable and sequential targeting opportunities coming online show they are thinking smart about the space. We also found early on in the conversation that their view of programmatic married up with our own – resisting the trap of categorising SnapAds as video or social – the opportunity was focused instead on simply reaching audiences more efficiently via data and automation. Programmatic has got to be one of the most misused terms in media, but being lucky enough to work with some future facing and innovative brands we’ve had the opportunity to be first to look under the hood – and this is the real thing.”
Anneliese Douglass, head of media and PR at Unilever, said: “As viewing fragments across screens, particularly amongst younger demographics, we need to be smart in our planning and sophisticated in our targeting to reach an audience whose attention is predominantly focused on mobile. By taking a programmatic approach to SnapAds, we will be able to test multiple targeting variables during the campaign and assess its impact on attention and engagement metrics”
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