There’s no question that Snapchat’s popularity is surging with eight billion video views on a daily basis. Many brands have been taking advantage of this with short-form video and other promotions, but up until this point, it’s been unknown what kind of services they’ve been investing in. However, a new study from research group L2 (via AdWeek) lifts some of the mystery, including what kind of brands invest in Snapchat. While the research is from earlier this year, many of the trends are still relevant.
Activewear has a very healthy lead with 21 percent, with companies like Nike leading the charge. Close behind are consumer packaged goods (CPG), with Little Debbie factoring in with seven percent of the overall 19 percent reported. Consumer electronics takes a close third, with GE Appliances holding 14 percent in a number one position. Also included on the list are beverages (16 percent, with PepsiCo as the number one company), beauty (13 percent, with TRESemme as the top draw) and financial services (six percent).
Three main sectors—activewear, CPGs and consumer electronics—account for more than half of Snapchat’s overall branding business, indicating that millennials and other users show great interest in these areas.
L2 also made note of special events having huge tie-ins with Snapchat, like its previous Super Bowl promotion. Even though it didn’t actually run an advertisement for the “big game,” it still drew in a number of big names to help create buzz through its application.
This included the debut of a Gameday Grub Match, co-sponsored by PepsiCo’s Doritos and Pepsi products, where three YouTube celebrity chefs competed to make ideal snacks for the Super Bowl. As a result, it managed to attain 18 percent of overall advertising through Snapchat, based on the 30-day period around the Super Bowl.
“Regarding PepsiCo’s significant advertising, I don’t think it should be surprising,” noted Garett Levy, research analyst for L2. “Currently, Snapchat still has a high barrier to entry with expensive upfront costs, allowing the platform to remain relatively uncrowded and reward brands with deeper pockets.”
One other chart put together by L2 breaks down the various media opportunities available to brands, through various services including Live, Discover and Geofilters & Lenses. There’s quite a high cost, especially using the third option, but there are a number of channels are available to advertise across, and each guarantees a high amount of views. Snapchat’s Discover option seems to have the lowest amount, but still accounts for between 500,000 to a million views a day. Meanwhile, Geofilters & Lenses can deliver as much as 220 million views a day.
Snapchat continues to work on ways to become a more viable marketing platform. It’s just a matter of how these features come into play, such as the new algorithm that it announced earlier this week.
