Snap says it will begin testing six-second non-skippable ads in select Snapchat Shows beginning May 15
Once reluctant to force ads on its users, still-unprofitable Snapchat is going to start testing nonskippable ads in its TV-like shows, according to three sources with direct knowledge …
Context & Ripple Effects
Snap has been building out its ad stack incrementally: ten-second Discover video ads priced at two cents per view in 2015, then Promoted Stories and AR Trial Ads in late 2017. What all those units shared was user control — viewers could swipe past them.
The May 15 test breaks that pattern. With Snap still unprofitable, the company is moving into forced-completion territory inside Snapchat Shows, its most TV-like surface, where an unskippable six-second spot guarantees every impression is actually watched.
First-order effects
- Advertisers buying into select Shows get guaranteed six-second completions rather than swiped-away impressions, while Show viewers lose the ability to skip mid-content ads.
Second-order effects
- If completion rates hold, Snap has a template to extend non-skippable units beyond Shows — which it did by letting users swipe up on them within shows by late 2019 (alongside stretching skippable ads to three minutes) — and eventually into creator content.
Third-order effects
- The trajectory points to Snapchat's inventory converging on TV-style economics: forced-view spots sold on guaranteed attention rather than user tolerance, reaching even creator Stories when Snap began testing revenue-sharing mid-roll ads there in 2022.
The trend: Snapchat's ad model is migrating from user-controlled, skippable units toward guaranteed-completion TV-style spots, first in owned Shows and then across creator inventory.