EE and Mars first brands to test Snap Commercials

Snap’s head of advertising in the UK, Ed Couchman, announced the partnership at Advertising Week Europe during a discussion on how publishers and brands are using vertical video to reach the mobile generation.

The new ad format will appear between its shows, which Snap first introduced in 2018 with the aim of creating a new form of TV-like content produced exclusively for mobile by media brands.

Channel 4, The Guardian, Sky News and Vice were among a slew of UK media brands who produced readying original and reworked programming, which Snap claimed would will give advertisers more opportunities to buy unskippable ads against premium content within Snap's walls.

Snap claims its new ad format offers benefits that include improved targeting, measurement and price efficiency.

Mars media manager, Chantal Barcelona commented: “We know from other digital platforms that unskippable video drives results for us, so when Snapchat announced their new "Commercials" offering we were keen to test it to expand our understanding of what drives effectiveness on Snapchat. By aligning full screen vertical video with premium mobile content, we believe there is huge value for our brands at landing our core message and ultimately shifting key business results."

Commenting further on the announcement, Couchman said: “Commercials offers brands and advertisers a unique opportunity to run full screen, sound on vertical video, wrapped around professionally produced content from some of the UK’s most loved content producers. Combined with Snap’s ad targeting capabilities make it a potent placement on any media schedule.”