Mobile advertising is one of the main engines of growth for brands today and an integral part of any digital marketing strategy, especially when reaching millennials and Gen Z. People nowadays spend most of their time online in apps instead of web browsers. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic increased people’s screen time. All of these factors have now led many digital marketers to increasingly focus on running ad campaigns in mobile apps. As more and more people grow up with mobile devices and social media as a fundamental part of their everyday lives, the trend will only continue to grow.
One platform that has proven itself particularly popular among younger generations is Snapchat. A key player in the digital space, Snapchat is the 12th most popular social media platform and the sixth most popular message app worldwide. And with a total of 319 million daily active users, Snapchat is quickly becoming more and more lucrative for mobile advertisers and publishers looking to acquire new app users, increase their revenue, and become a part of their key audiences’ conversations.
Key Snapchat Ads Statistics
| Total Snapchat Users as of January 2022 | 319 million |
| Total Potential Ad Audience | 557.1 million |
| Eligible Adoption Rate Worldwide | 11.2% |
| Average Cost per Action for 2021 | approx. $5.53 |
| Average Cost per Mile for 2021 | approx. $2.19 |
| Average Cost per Swipe up in 2021 | approx. $0.57 |
Snapchat users at a glance
According to data published in the company’s most recent investor earnings report, Snapchat’s daily active users have grown steadily over the past six months, reaching 319 million users in January 2022.
Of these, 53.8% are female and 45.4% are male.
Users aged 18 to 24 account for the largest share of Snapchat’s advertising audience.
Audience overview
| Total potential reach of ads on Snapchat | 557.1 million |
| Snapchat ad reach vs. Total population | 7.0% |
| Quarter-on-quarter chanage in Snapchat reach | +3.5% or + 19 million |
| Year-on-year change in Snapchat ad reach | +11.8% + 59 million |
| Snapchat ad reach vs. Total Internet users | 11.3% |
| Snapchat ad reach vs. Population aged 13+ | 9.0% |
| Female Snapchat ad reach vs. Total Snapchat ad reach | 53.8% |
| Male Snapchat ad reach vs. Total Snapchat ad reach | 45.4% |
Source: DataReportal
Users per age group
As seen from the graph below, users aged 18 to 24 account for the largest share of Snapchat monthly users with 39.3% or around 211.8 million users, with users in the 13 to 17 age segment accouting for futher 21.4%. As such, users under 24 account for more than half of Snapchat’s daily audience, making Snapchat a particularly lucrative platform for advertising for brands which target this younger age segment.
Users by percentage
Snapchat users by gender
As previously discussed, most of Shapchat’s users are female or around 53.8% of all users, with female users outnumbering male ones in all age segments apart form the 18 to 24 one.
Share of Snapchat’s advertising audience by age group and gender
Snapchat’s advertising reach by region
Most Snapchatters live in Asia, as you can see from the graph above. Of those, most are concentrated in Southern Asia with around 144.8 million active users, Western Asia with 62.2 million users, and Southeastern Asia with around 16.5 million users. North America, representing the USA and Canada here, and Europe share roughly the same number of users with each region boasting around 117 million active users, with the rest of the world far behind.
As such, brands from Asia, North America, and Europe or brands looking to target those markets should definitely consider Snapchat as a valuable for driving their online presence up and becoming a key part of their audiences’ concerns and conversations.
Advertising reach by region
Snapchat’s advertising audience reach
According to data published in the company’s self-service advertising tools, Snapchat’s advertising audience reach grew by 11.8% in the past 12 months. In other words, advertisers can expect to reach 59 million more users on Snapchat worldwide compared to last year. As such, marketers could potentially reach a total of 557.1 million users as of January 2022.
Snapchat’s latest advertising audience figures suggest that 9% of all people aged 13 and above around the world use the app today. However, removing people in the same age group who live in China – where Snapchat is still blocked – increases the platform’s eligible adoption rate to 11.2%.
Snapchatters’ habits
An average Snapchat user spends over 30 minutes on Snapchat every day and opens the app over 30 times a day. Snapchat users are also 60% more likely to make impulse purchases and 20% more likely to make purchases on mobile. Additionally, 35% of Snapchatters send snaps of products that they would like to purchase thus giving any brand more online visibility.
Snapchat users also tend to view ads with sound on. According to company data, 64% of all ads are viewed with sound on.
Finally, Snapchatters use apps to make purchases at least once a month and 40% say they download between 1 and 5 apps in a week.
Watch time and ad recall
According to a Kantar study, Gen Z spend less time with advertising content than Millennials and Gen X / Baby Boomers.
Watch time
Source: Snapchat for Business
However, Gen Z absorb content faster and have higher rates of engagement and ad recall. In fact, Gen Z display the highest rate of correct ad recall of all generations.
Ad recall
Source: Snapchat for Business
How do Snapchat Ads Work?
Snapchat chargers per 1,000 impressions (CPM) through an auction system called goal-based bidding. This means that a maximum price can be set up for each time a viewer performs the action that a given ad is optimized for, i.e. app installs, swipe-ups (that’s how Snapchat takes users to the landing page), impressions, etc.
As such, Snapchat allows marketers to reach users based on their demographics, interests, and behaviors. Associated ad costs vary depending on the target audience, the product or service sold, the competition, and how people are being targeted.
How Much Do Snapchat Ads Cost?
Below is an example Snapchat ad campaign. Since Snapchat uses a goal-based bidding system to determine how much to charge, there is no easy way to put a definite price tag on a Snapchat ad. As such, we get in the realm of approximates and rough estimates. From the example below, we can see that in 2021 for a CPA (cost per action) of around $5.53 (£4.12) the associated eCPM (cost per mile) was $2.19 (£1.59) while the eCPSU (cost per swipe up) sat at $0.57 (£0.44).
Sample Snapchat Campaign Ad Costs
| Amount spent | Paid Impressions | Paid eCPM | eCPSU | Purchases Total |
| £1,690.47 | 804,021 | £2.10 | £0.53 | 970 |
| £0.00 | 0 | £0.00 | £0.00 | 0 |
| $0.00 | 0 | £0.00 | £0.00 | 0 |
| £6,233.35 | 4,191,175 | £1.49 | £0.42 | 951 |
| £0.00 | 0 | £0.00 | £0.00 | 0 |
| £0.00 | 0 | £0.00 | £0.00 | 0 |
| £7,923.81 Total | 4,995,196 Total | £1.59 Total Avg | £0.44 Total Avg | 1,921 Total |
Source: Social Shepherd
This is just a sample campgain and costs vary depending on an ad campaign is structured. As we discussed previously, target audience, product or service sold, the competition, and the means and ways of targeting an audience are all going to have a bearing on the final price of a Snapchat ad campaign.
Snapchat’s goal-based bidding system
A Snapchat ad total value and price are determined by three factors:
- Advertisers bid – the amount an advertiser values their desired goal, e.g., $0.65 (£0.50) per eCPSU
- Predicted event rates – the probability of a Snapchat user to take the desired action of an ad
- Quality and relevance – based on the Snapchat users benefit, the quality and feedback of an ad can reduce its total bid.
Source: Social Shepherd
Factors such as industry and target market/audience, the creatives opted for (video ads, image ads, AR-augmented ads) and the campaign’s objective (see below) can also affect an ad campaign’s total costs.
Snapchat also offers marketers to set an objective for their campaign, with each objective carrying a different price tag.
Sample Snapchat ad campaign objectives
Source: Snapchat for Business
Final Thoughts
Snapchat is a dynamic platform that has a lot to offer to marketers and publishers alike, especially when targeting millennials and Gen Z audiences and if offering an eCommerce product. The platform provides interactive ways for people to engage with a brand, thus generating new users and helping increase brand loyalty. Advertising on Snapchat has also shown consistent ROAS (return on ad spend) across 2021 despite Covid-19.
If your target audience is young, active, and on-the-go advertising on Snapchat should be a no-brainer decision. It requires mastering the right medium of expression and understanding Snapchat’s dynamic pricing, but the platform remains and will continue to be one of the most efficient ways for a brand to become a part of its audiences key conversations.