If you use messaging service Snapchat, your selfies will soon start bearing adverts.
That’s thanks to the service’s new advertising format called Sponsored lenses. This is an adaptation of the lenses feature – launched last month – which lets users superimpose animations on their selfies. These animations include heart eyes, wrinkles and vomit rainbows. But soon they’ll be replaced by sponsored animations, or adverts as they’re also known.
The Financial Times reports that the first of these will arrive before Halloween. There’s no word on which brands are on board, so
Snapchat put a positive spin on the feature. “Sponsored lenses allow Snapchatters to express themselves and connect with a brand in a really creative and dynamic way,” a Snapchat spokesperson told the FT.
If it’s any consolation, your selfies don’t come cheap to advertisers. A source claims the service charges brands up to £495,000 during a big holiday like Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas, and £297,000 on normal days.
Read more: Snapchat’s new update promises ‘no more tired thumbs’, finally…
Snapchat will design the sponsored animations itself, so they should be in keeping with the firm’s graphics. The FT claims Hollywood studios could be the first companies to sign up, so you might see film adverts running all over your face.
Snapchat has been trialling adverts in its Discover news service since the start of the year. It also launched a content marketing collaboration called Truffle Pig earlier this year.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
