Snapchat announced that it has begun testing mid-roll ads that would appear in the Stories of Snap Stars, who are select creators with a large following, such as public figures or celebrities. According to Snapchat, this new feature will enable Snapchat creators to make more money because, for the first time, Snapchat will share the profits from the ads with its creators.
In its announcement, Snapchat said, “Stories lower the barrier to content creation and engagement, and we believe placing ads within a Snap Star’s public Story will allow an easier path to financial success.”
At the moment, beta testing of Snapchat’s mid-roll ads feature is only available to select Snap Stars located in the US. However, Snap Stars who have been left out of the beta testing participants won’t have to wait. Snapchat said it will introduce mid-roll ads to all Snap Stars Stories later this year.
Currently, there are available ads on Snapchat, but Snapchat doesn’t share the profits from the advertisements with anyone. If you’re a Snapchat user, you’ve probably noticed adverts appearing in between or after your friends’ Stories and in Snapchat’s Discover section.
Although Snapchat expects the upcoming mid-roll ads feature for Stories to generate profits, the fact is that people don’t spend that much time anymore watching Stories on Snapchat. Even so, the CEO of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, said in a report to investors that users are spending less time watching Stories and more time watching short videos on Spotlight, Snapchat’s equivalent of TikTok.
It remains to be seen if Snapchat’s mid-roll advertisements option for famous people’s Stories would actually enable an easier road to financial success for Snapchat and its popular creators, or if it will be unable to compete with the current popularity of short TikTok-like videos.