Snapchat debuts 10-second video ads for Discover publishers that cost two cents per view
Snapchat Debuts Video Ads for 2 Cents a View — Snapchat wants companies to know its not just for millennials: Advertisers can find a home there as well. At the Daily Mail/Elite Daily Digital …
Context & Ripple Effects
Since launching the ad-supported Discover feature in January, Snapchat has priced itself as premium inventory — first with $750,000-a-day asks to brands that undercut YouTube's masthead rate, then through Discover publishers charging $50,000 to $100,000 per day for their slots. The new 10-second video ad at two cents per view gives the platform a standardized, volume-priced unit alongside those bespoke packages.
First-order effects
- Advertisers priced out of Discover's five-figure daily placements get an entry point at two cents a view, while Discover publishers gain a ready-made video ad format they can sell against their editorial.
Second-order effects
- The per-view rate becomes Snapchat's house pricing template: within weeks the company reports Live Stories carrying multiple ads at around two cents per view across audiences averaging 20M people a day, extending the model beyond Discover.
Third-order effects
- Per-view micro-pricing points toward interruptive, attention-metered formats — the path Snapchat follows by 2018 with unskippable six-second ads inserted mid-Show, trading reach guarantees for forced completion rather than view counts alone.
The trend: Mobile video advertising is shifting from premium daily-placement deals toward standardized per-view units, with Snapchat using cheap two-cent inventory to prove scale before tightening formats.