Snapchat Adjusts Ad Rates As User Demo Shifts

What Happened
Snapchat has made significant progress in its ad business this year, including launching an Ad API last month and partnering with several third-party analytics firms to help improve its ad measurement. Last week, Digiday reported that the company has reduced the pricing of its ads bought through its ad API from a previous minimum of $500,000 per ad to just $100,000.

Meanwhile, comScore released on Monday a report that contains some interesting stats about Snapchat’s user demographic. According to its estimation, 14% of U.S. smartphone users that are 35 or older are now using Snapchat, up from a mere 2% three years ago. For smartphone users aged 25 to 34, that number has ballooned from 5% to nearly 38% in the past three years.

What Brands Need To Do
When it first opened up to brand advertisers in late 2014, Snapchat received some flak for its formidably high pricing and lack of transparency on ad performance. Now as the social app continues to mature and attract a more diverse user base, its ad business has evolved accordingly and become more accessible and measurable. The expanding user demographic points to new opportunities for marketers to reach a wider audience. For brands that are looking to connect with mobile users, Snapchat is a fast-growing social channel that marketers should not overlook.

 


Source: Digiday & WSJ

 

Facebook Posts Strong Q1 Results Thanks To Mobile Ad Boom

What Happened
On Wednesday, Facebook posted its 2016 Q1 earnings report, showing strong growth in ad revenue with a 57% year-over-year increase to $5.2 billion, comfortably beating Wall Street estimates. The increase is mostly attributed to mobile ads, which accounted for about 82% of its overall quarterly ad revenue. The social network also announced that it added over 60 million new users in the past quarter, bringing its total monthly active users up to 1.65 billion.

Why Brands Should Care
As brands shift their ad spending from traditional media to digital and especially mobile platforms, Facebook is quickly solidifying its leading position in mobile advertising thanks to the continued popularity of its mobile apps. During the first quarter, the company made a strong push into live-streaming, further establishing itself as a mobile video destination ready for more video ads and branded video. For brands looking to connect with a mobile audience, Facebook, along with the several other mobile apps it owns, remains a great option given the vast amount of user data it owns and the variety of mobile ad products it offers.

 


Source: The Marketing Land

Facebook Optimizes Mobile Ads Based On Cell Signal Strength

Facebook is starting to allow advertisers to target ads based on the strength of cell reception. This new feature of its ad platform will give advertisers the option distinguish the type of ads they serve—a text-based ad for someone in a remote area with weak reception; a lush video ad for someone in the city covered by strong LTE network. This will not only increase the overall effectiveness of Facebook’s mobile ads, but is also expected to help Facebook’s efforts in emerging global markets where advanced cell networks are not yet common.

Clear Channel Introduces Mobile Outdoor Ad Platform

Out-of-home ad company Clear Channel Outdoor is partnering with the New York-based ad tech firm Blue Bite, featured in our virtual lab, to bring its mobile ad platform “Connect” to 28 U.S. cities and Toronto, after a successful trial in some European markets. The platform aims to connect out-of-home advertisements with consumers’ smartphones by turning outdoor structures into digital interfaces using QR codes and near field communication (NFC) technology. It is also reported to be looking into more advanced location-based technology, such as beacons, to explore the largely uncharted territory of proximity-based advertising. As a first step, this is certainly a right step for the OOH ad seller towards a steady digital transformation.