Snapchat has announced some new ad options that are coming soon to the app, ahead of its presentation at IAB Newfronts, which is being held in New York this week.

First off, Snap’s looking to help advertisers tap into Stories with a new ‘First Story’ offering, which will enable ad partners to ensure that their ad is the first to be shown between friend Stories in the app on any given day.

Snap says that this premium placement option will have the potential to reach over 50 million users, and will help to boost awareness for major campaigns in the app.

I’d imagine that this would be best for movie launches or similar announcements of wide appeal, offering big reach, with a premium price tag to match. But it could be a new consideration for those looking to maximize awareness with younger audiences.

Snapchat’s also launching ads in Spotlight, its TikTok-like feed of short videos in the app.

As you can see in these example screens, Spotlight ads will be displayed between clips, providing another opportunity to reach Snapchatters in a high engagement surface.

Spotlight now has more than 350 million monthly active users - up 46% year-over-year - with short-form video now the key entertainment element of the moment, especially among younger audiences.

That could make this a valuable opportunity. Spotlight ads will be coming to the app shortly.

Snap’s also looking to better facilitate brand/creator partnerships, with a new ‘Snap Star Collab Studio’ initiative, that will pair creators with brands for campaigns.

As per Snap:

“The Collab Studio will accelerate partnerships between brands and Snap Stars through managed service production, supported by four initial partners (Studio71, Beeline by Brat TV, Influential and Whalar), where experienced teams will help brands create and execute sponsored Stories and bespoke ad creative with Snap Stars.”

That could help brands create more platform-native content, which will likely hold more appeal with Snap’s audience.

Snapchat’s also announced a range of new sports partnerships, which will provide additional opportunities for engagement.

“Major sports sponsorship packages will help marketers activate across Snapchat during some of the biggest sports events in the world. For NBCUniversal’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games coverage and our coverage of the upcoming Women’s World Cup, we are bringing Snapchatters exclusive content across Snapchat’s Stories, Spotlight, and Camera. Our longstanding partnerships with the WNBA, NBA, and NFL will also continue to provide content across Stories and Spotlight and more creative tools for our community.” 

Finally, Snap’s also in the early experimental phase for promoted links in chats with its My AI chatbot, which is powered by OpenAI.

Similar to experiments being conducted by Microsoft in its Bing Chat experience, this would provide another way for brands to get their offerings highlighted in the chat – which could seemingly also skew the chatbot’s accuracy (through advertiser bias), though Snap says that it’ll be designed to help ad partners reach users ‘who’ve indicated potential interest in their offerings’.

The specifics of this are still unclear, but basically, with the reformation of search via AI chat experiences, platforms are now exploring ways to integrate their core ad businesses into this new flow, so that they, and brand partners, don’t miss out if and when AI chat becomes a bigger element.

These are some interesting new considerations, which could reshape your approach to Snapchat ads and how you maximize reach and resonance with the Snap audience.

Snap will be presenting more information on its latest offerings at Newfronts this week.