Snapchat Monetization
Beyond messaging friends, Snapchat now offers a variety of integrated monetization features making it a goldmine for influencers, publishers and brands catering to its young, fickle audience. This guide illuminates pathways to five-figure income streams by embracing native advertising formats, sponsored AR experiences, recurring content revenue shares and incentivized viral video jackpots.
- Laser-focused demographic targeting enables premium ad rates rivaling Meta
- Sponsored lenses and geofilters craft interactive brand experiences unmatched on other platforms
- Discover channel content partnerships subsidize productions while splitting revenue
- Viral Spotlight challenge videos can capture million dollar prizes and branding windfalls
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Snapchat for Brand Monetization
Introduction to Snapchat Monetization
Over 265 million people around the world actively use Snapchat every single day. And 20 Snapchatters on average open the app more than 30 times daily – making it one of the most habit-forming platforms.
This huge young audience makes Snapchat an appealing environment for brands.
In fact, Snapchat captured 2.2% of the entire global digital ad spend in 2022 amounting to over $3 billion in advertising revenue alone during 2021.
Nearly 75% of daily Snapchatters are 13-34 years old, a coveted demographic with billions in disposable income looking to engage with brands creatively through augmented reality and innovative digitally-native concepts.
Additionally, Snapchat users average over 30 minutes per day on the platform – higher than Instagram. Stories generate over 10 billion views daily as Snapchat’s community share moments from their daily lives.
With short videos representing 93% of posts – vertical mobile content thrives on Snapchat. This focus reflects the authentic, unscripted, in-the-moment culture that provides a uniquely lively brand marketing canvas for innovative monetization methods covered in this guide.
The sheer scale of Snapchat combined with very high engagement by younger demographics presents monetization opportunities that simply don’t exist to the same levels on other platforms.
Understanding Snapchat’s Core Gen Z & Millennial Audience
The majority of Snapchat’s users are between the ages of 13 and 34. This gives Snapchat an incredibly valuable reach into younger Millennial and Gen Z demographics.
These audiences look to Snapchat primarily for connecting with close friends rather than consuming news or professional content. This means monetization efforts need to embrace the playful, experimental culture.
Types of Snapchat Monetization Opportunities
Snapchat Discover
Media publishers and content creators can work directly with Snapchat to feature content on the Discover tab and split resulting ad revenue based on views and engagement.
Snapchat Discover Earning Potential
According to Digiday, top Discover channels generate over $40 million annually as Snapchat splits ad earnings 50/50. Snapchat sells video ads for $50 CPM on average.
Additional branding sponsorships for custom shows can drive over $300K per day while Snapchat Live events secure close to $1 million per event.
Cosmopolitan’s Discover channel earns an average of $8-15 RPMs on over 150 million monthly views. That translates to $1.2 – $2.25 million mostly from Split-Screen video ads running within Discover.
Discover Channel Content Best Practices
- Showcase Exclusive Content
- Tell Authentic Stories using Creative Tools
- Embrace Interactivity and Choice-Driven Experiences
- Prioritize Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergreen Evergr
Discover Channel Requirements
To be considered for Discover, Snapchat looks for publishers that:
📈 Deliver 1M+ Monthly Views
🎥 Produce Daily Premium Video Content
📚 Offer Mobile-First Article Inventory
📈 Have Cross-Channel Digital Audiences
🤝 Maintain an Omnichannel Sales Team
By aligning content strategy to platform behaviors, Discover channels build significant, recurring revenue directly through Snapchat’s very competitive built-in monetization programs.
Sponsored AR Lenses & Filters
Snapchat’s iconic augmented reality lenses and geotagged filters offer prime sponsorship real estate for brands looking to creatively engage Snapchat’s audience. Popular branded lenses commonly get billions of views.
Snapchat’s iconic augmented reality lenses and geotagged filters offer prime sponsorship real estate for brands looking to creatively engage Snapchat’s audience.
Sponsored Lens Earning Potential
Sponsored lenses average nearly 20 seconds of playtime. Benchmark engagement metrics for branded AR Lenses include:
- Installs: 800K+
- Day 1 Plays: 15M+
- Play Time: 22M+ minutes
- Views: 500M+ over 2 weeks
Top sponsored lenses generate over a billion views in weeks. At a $450,000 lens production cost and $0.10 per view payout rate reported, over $100 million in revenue is achievable for breakout branded lenses.
Taco Bell’s Cinco de Mayo taco headset lens scored over 224 million views, likely generating tens of millions in revenue.
Sponsored Lens Best Practices
- Showcase product functionally in AR experience
- Incorporate existing branded elements
- Launch alongside other campaign touchpoints
- Promote lens offering discounts/rewards
Geofilters enable hyperlocal awareness-building with foot traffic metrics factored into pricing.
Both AR lenses and geofilters allow experiential brand engagement unmatched on other platforms, making sponsorship very compelling given Snapchat’s massive scale.
Snap Ads
Snap Ads appear between friends’ stories and on the Discover page. Advertisers can target users based on first-party data and activity within Snapchat. Video Snap ads also support direct response optimization.
Snap Ads appear within publisher content on Discover as well as between friends’ stories. Advertisers can target users based on activity within Snapchat and off-platform data.
Snap Ad Earnings Potential
Average Snap Ad CPM rates range $6-$8 on average but scale to over $13 for especially sought-after inventory and audiences during key seasonal tentpole events.
Case study ad campaigns have generated an extra $132,000 in sales from as little as $36,000 in Snap Ad spend thanks to precise targeting of known buyers.
Lens creator and retailer Lensabl drove a 6X return on ad spend in testing Snap Ads. Around 2 million impressions delivered over 20,000 visits and 1,000 orders.
Snap Ad Formats
Story Ads appear between friends’ stories. Short vertical video ads in feed earn 8x more swipe ups.
AR Try-On allows “trying on” branded Lenses before unlocking for play. High intent to buy signals.
Collection Ads enable swiping through multiple product images with direct checkout capabilities.
Commercials run full-screen within publisher content on Discover page earning premium video ad rates.
Snap Ad Targeting Options
Demographic targeting includes age, gender, location, interests, lifestyle and more. Retargeting engagers via web and app behavior is available too.
Snapchat Spotlight
Emerging creators can earn money when posting fun, engaging videos to the Spotlight feed. Bonuses exceeding $1 million total have been awarded to top Spotlight contributors.
Snapchat Spotlight Performance Payouts
Payout amount depends on views and engagement relative to the overall daily Spotlight submissions. Top performing Snaps average $500-$2,000 per video but the most viral hits exceed $1 million in bonuses.
Factors impacting earnings include:
📈 Views 🤝 Shares 🏆 Screen Time 🎯 Completion Rates
Payments come as Snap Tokens that transfer as cash into your bank account. Over $250 million has already been paid out to Spotlight creators.
Brand Success Examples
Energy drink G Fuel launched a branded Spotlight lens for their new Radioactive Lemonade flavor. In one week, it earned over 110 million impressions and became a top lens.
Fast food chain Chipotle crowdsourced Spotlight videos as part of their “Stage Your Plate” TikTok challenge, taking advantage of viral trends. Hundreds of submissions containing the hashtag received millions of combined views.
Snapchat Spotlight Content Tips
- Capture Attention Quickly
- Integrate Creative AR Lenses
- Encourage Viewer Participation
- Inspire Sharing to Grow Views
- link Profile for Follow-on Traffic
Leveraging Spotlight effectively builds brand visibility and social currency with Snapchat’s core Gen Z audience while earning monetization upside for top performers.
Building a Money-Making Snapchat Brand
While disappearing content makes it harder to build a following, consistently sharing creative Snaps and Stories expressing a distinct point of view helps attract engaged audiences worth monetizing over time through:
🤳 Showcasing Interests with Drawing Tools
👻 Bringing Humor with Lenses & Filters
🎞️ Telling Stories over Multiple Snaps
📸 Launching Situational Challenges
Content Best Practices for Snapchat
Balancing brand building content with monetized opportunities maximizes income long term:
💰 Promote Sponsorships Subtly
🤝 Prioritize Discover Channel Content
🏆 Encourage UGC Campaign Participation
🎯 Cross-Promote Snapchat Across Other Channels
📈 Analyze Performance Data to Refine Approaches
Snapchat for Business Growth & Revenue
Given Snapchat’s strong adoption by younger demographics, the platform offers compelling opportunities for certain brands to drive awareness, engagement and sales especially for those focused on:
🛍️ Online Retail Brands
🍟 QSR & Restaurant Chains
🎮 Entertainment Properties
🧳 Travel Destinations
Overcoming Snapchat Monetization Challenges
Snapchat’s content evaporates which limits viral potential. Paywalls on Discover constrain reach for media publishers. Lack of a web counterpart also inhibits content visibility and traffic growth.
However, consistent creative innovation tailored to platform behaviors and analytics-informed strategies maximize discoverability, best positioning standout creators for sustainable monetization long-term as Snapchat itself evolves.
The Future of Snapchat Money-Making
Snapchat is hinting at more shoppable ad formats, tighter integration with AR try-on capabilities, and expanding Spotlight opportunities.
Expect Snapchat Creator Funds subsidizing top content and built-in tipping functionality as well to help convert influence into income. Shopify partnership may also ease selling products without leaving Snapchat.
For publishers and media companies, more analytics and segmentation tools could help better target niche audiences while increased ad placements provide additional earning upside.
Snapchat Tools & Services
Numerous third-party platforms aid creating content, planning posting cadence across accounts, collaborating with brands, evaluating performance and ultimately scaling monetization through Snapchat.
FAQs Around Making Money on Snapchat
How much can I earn on Snapchat? Revenue potential varies widely but six figures is achievable between branded content, Discover revenue share, Spotlight bonuses and promoted events or filters.
What sells best on Snapchat? Sponsorships for impulse-driven purchases like apparel, snacks, entertainment, cosmetics and travel resonate strongly when creatively aligned with Snapchat’s youthful culture.
Final Take
While Snapchat lacks the creator infrastructure of YouTube or Instagram, patient brands and content publishers willing to embrace niche audiences playfully can still build loyal followings and unlock five-figure income streams on Snapchat through consistent innovation and strategic sponsor partnerships.
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