Snap Inc. unveiled new advertising tools and formats at its 2025 IAB NewFronts presentation, expanding options for brands to reach its 900 million monthly active users through its “Say it in a Snap” brand campaign.

Image source: Snap

Sponsored Snaps Expansion and Promoted Places Introduction

Building on its first Sponsored Snap implementation with Universal Pictures for “Wicked” in November 2024, Snap is introducing three new offerings within this format. The company reports early success, with fast-food chain Wendy’s achieving nearly 52 million impressions in a single day and growing their Public Profile organic followers by 54%.

New updates include “First Snap,” a first-impression takeover option delivering content in the Chat Feed with full-screen video capabilities and brand call-to-action features. Additionally, Web & App Auction Ads will deliver targeted Sponsored Snaps through the ads auction, while a third option enables advertisers to send Sponsored Snaps directly from creator handles.

These ads appear unread above users’ regular conversations without push notifications, allowing users to choose whether to open them.

The company’s Snap Map, now reaching over 400 million monthly users, introduces Promoted Places, allowing brands to integrate into the map experience. This feature enables Snapchatters to discover physical store locations while exploring the platform’s location features.

Content Initiatives Focus on Music and Sports

Recognizing that 79% of U.S. Snapchatters are passionate about music, Snap is launching “Under the Ghost,” a music performance series hosted at its Santa Monica studio. The initiative will provide sponsorship opportunities via media packages, including Sponsored Snaps, creator content, and Total Takeover placements.

The company is also strengthening partnerships with the NFL and WNBA to provide official content across Stories and Spotlight features.

AI-Powered Campaign Management

Snap’s new “Smart Campaign Solutions” introduces AI-powered performance enhancement tools, with two main offerings. 

Smart Bidding allows advertisers to set target cost-per-action goals, with the system automatically adjusting bids and budgets to maximize scale. Smart Budget automatically shifts spend to the highest-performing ad sets within campaigns.

Financial Performance

The company reported Q1 2025 advertising revenue growth of 14% year-over-year in its direct response business, which now contributes 75% of total advertising revenue. Improvements span machine learning, privacy-safe signals, and new ad formats.

Despite recent financial challenges, including a 13% stock drop after declining to provide Q2 guidance, Snap reports a 60% increase in total active advertisers. The company reduced its full-year adjusted operating expenses projection to between $2.65 billion and $2.70 billion.

Monthly active users grew to 900 million from 850 million reported in August 2024, while the Snapchat+ subscription service reached 15 million subscribers, generating $152 million in “other revenue” – a 75% year-over-year increase.