Snapchat Video Ad Specs & Placements Guide for 2024

Since 2011, Snapchat has been creating connections between friends, families, and brands through authentic Snaps. While the core purpose of the app has stayed the same, many aspects of the platform have evolved, including Snapchat video ad specs. 

In order to create the most effective Snapchat ad experience possible, it’s critical to stay up to date with the latest changes. Here, we’ll discuss Snapchat ad specs and how you can make the most of your video marketing strategy. 

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Benefits of Snapchat Video Marketing

When it comes to Snapchat, there are several different video marketing benefits for your brand. Some of these include: 

• A more authentic connection with your audience. Snapchat users are searching for authenticity, so give it to them! By utilizing genuine themes and messages in your video marketing, you’ll be able to create a deeper connection with your audience. 
• The ability to use more creative marketing strategies. From lenses and filters to other innovative features, Snapchat is a great place to test out creative marketing strategies. 
• The opportunity to reach most Gen Z and Millennial audiences. According to the platform’s internal data, “Snapchat reaches 90% of the 13-24 year old population and 75% of the 13-34 year old population in 20+ countries.” 

Snapchat Video Ad Specs & Placements

As the platform continues to grow and diversify its 200+ million daily active users, it should be abundantly clear why Snapchat video marketing must be a major pillar of your social media strategy. 

Uniqueness aside, Snapchat does share one major commonality with the other platforms advertisers love for social media video marketing. If you want your brand to stay on the cutting edge of what trends are hot in social media’s saturated content landscape, you must prioritize generating a stream of fresh, relevant video ads optimized for performance to make an indelible impression on your target audiences. 

Here are the four main Snapchat video ad placements your brand can leverage with high-quality video content.

Single Video

Snapchat Single Video placements are fullscreen video ads. These appear in between or after various content, including User Stories, Publishers, Makers, and Our Stories. 

Single video ads are great ways to grow brand awareness and drive engagement. Snapchat allows you to add attachments to your videos that act as call-to-actions, driving the viewer off the platform to visit a website, download an app, watch a long-form video, or interact with an AR lens. Because this placement appears full screen, viewers will only see one video ad at a time, meaning your content will get a user’s full attention. Please note: these videos can be skipped, so prioritize a thumb-stopping hook to keep your audience engaged.

Video Ad Specs

• Aspect ratio: 9:16
• Max file size: 1 GB
• Video length: 3 to 180 seconds. Snapchat recommends video lengths of 3-5 seconds for this placement. If you’re including an offer, it’s recommended that you mention it within 2 or 3 seconds to drive action.
• File type: .mp4 or .mov and H.264 encoded

Avoid placing logos, text, or graphic elements in the top and bottom 150px, as app elements can interfere with them. Snapchat also warns of prompting any swiping behavior, especially within attachments like web view. You don’t want a Snapchatter to accidentally swipe out of your content!

Snapchat Story Ads

Users can find new content (including advertisements) via the Discover tab in the app. Snapchat Story Ads allow advertisers to place a branded tile in the Snapchat Discover section that opens into a “chapterized” collection of 1 to 10 images or videos, creating a branded content experience. This placement lets you take your customers on a journey, telling them a story while showcasing your product or app.

Video Ad Specs

• Aspect ratio: 9:16 
• File size: 1 GB per single video
• Video length: Each video can be up to 15 seconds for a total of up to 180 seconds
• File type: .mp4 or .mov

Want to energize your audience even more? Try a UGC-style (user-generated content) video where the talent is talking directly to the camera to increase view-through rates. For a more low-lift approach, consider repurposing Single Video ads and including them as part of a Snapchat Story Ad. Unlike other ad placements, Story ads do not support attachments.

Lean on dynamic video styles, like stop motion or animated video production, to grab attention and stop thumbs with personality and inventiveness. 

Snapchat Commercials

Snap Originals is Snapchat’s in-house creative studio. It publishes long-form original fiction and non-fiction programming designed for mobile consumption. 

According to Snapchat, Snap Originals reach 75% of the U.S. Gen Z population. The Commerical’s ad placement will appear between Snap’s curated content and games. Because Commercials appear in a different content experience than other placements within the app, you have the potential to reach a wider assortment of audiences who primarily use the app for Snap’s original content.

Video Ad Specs

• Aspect ratio: 9:16
• Max file size: 1GB 
• Video length: A Standard Commercial placement is 3 to 6 seconds long and non-skippable. An Extended Play Commercial is 7 to 180 seconds long, but only the first 6 seconds are non-skippable.
• File type: .mp4 or .mov and H.264 encoded

Like Single Video ads, you can include attachments with Commercials, but they are restricted to Web Views, Long Form Videos, and AR Lenses. The creative must be live-action, motion graphic, or stop-motion animation. Brand creative feels natural in this environment, and the videos must have sound.

Commercials on Snap Originals programming are the only non-skippable video placement available on the platform. This means you have the chance for your advertisements to tell a fuller story with a beginning, middle, and end. 

That said, a fuller story doesn’t mean a more complex one. Keep your narrative simple, creatively revealing key information by the first five seconds to keep viewers engaged. 

Snapchat Lenses

Snapchat Lenses, not to be confused with Snapchat filters, are an augmented reality ad placement. These ads allow users to play and interact with brand creative. 

Lenses are the perfect way to increase visibility and encourage further engagement with your target audience. This ad type allows brands to harness the unique playfulness of augmented reality through a singular brand experience. 

This is the most interactive placement Snapchat offers. It turns your message into an immersive experience, blurring the lines between native video content and sponsored advertisements. Lenses require your brand name or logo to be visible on-screen; the benefit is that when Snapchatters share a video made with your lens, your brand identity will be shared along with it. 

There are two main types of lenses:

• Face Lenses
  • This lens recognizes the user’s eyes, mouth, and head, transforming their faces into creative characters like puppies or aliens. These can also be used for Snapchatters to test out products virtually, like trying on new jewelry from a fashion line or a pair of glasses from an eyewear eComm store. 
• World Lenses
  • This lens uses the same technology as Face Lenses to transform the real-time environment in a regular lens. The user can use their rear-facing camera to superimpose AR on the video, like placing popular characters into everyday surroundings.

Making Snapchat Videos at Scale

As video marketing becomes more critical, it can be difficult to create enough video content. Plus, with certain AR features on Snapchat, it can be hard to even know where to get started with video production or the types of videos you need. 

That’s where we come in! At QuickFrame, we believe businesses of all sizes should have the ability to create and share engaging and unique content.

Contact us today to learn more.

Snapchat Ad Sizes: Final Thoughts

Now that you know the latest Snapchat video ad sizes, you can create an effective video marketing campaign. Whether you want to drive awareness, consideration, or conversions, Snapchat is a great platform to help you reach your audience. 

Need help with other networks? Check out our complete Social Media Video Ad Specs & Placements Guide