On Wednesday, three entertainment brands—Fox, Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures—ran video ads that encouraged users to "swipe up" to watch longer videos. The promos ran in The Daily Mail, National Geographic and Cosmopolitan's channels within Discover, the section of the app that publishers use to crank out daily content. Snapchat and publishers share the revenue from Discover ads. Unlike the typical Snapchat ads that are capped at 10 seconds, the studios' promotions prompted people to view longer clips. Universal Pictures promoted the movie Neighbors 2 with a full-length trailer that is two-and-a-half minutes long. VIDEO Fox's ad plugged a minute-long teaser for Grease Live, the network's reboot of the 1971 musical that airs on Jan. 31. And Paramount's promo served up a 90-second trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane, a sci-fi mystery movie that comes out on March 11. VIDEO A Snapchat rep said the longer ad format is still in a testing period, and it isn't surprising that entertainment marketers are some of the initial brands to experiment with the videos. Universal Pictures was the first brand to advertise on Snapchat in 2014. And Twentieth Century Fox bought the first Sponsored Selfie this fall, while Sony Pictures bought a Snapchat Discovery channel in October. Snapchat's newest offering is the latest example of how the app is courting big advertisers to compete with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The ephemeral app reportedly has 7 billion video views per day, not far off from Facebook's 8 billion. The Venice, Calif.-based app is also reportedly building an API into its platform that will let brands measure and target their ads. Snapchat's moves will no doubt be interesting to watch in the coming months, particularly on Super Bowl Sunday when the NFL creates a live feed of the game that will include interstitial ads from sponsors Budweiser and Pepsi.
Snapchat is letting brands experiment with video ads longer than 10 seconds. On Wednesday, Fox, Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures all ran videos that asked users to "swipe up" if they wanted to view longer videos. The company said it was testing the feature in a small number of markets where it's not yet available for advertisers. The ad format is still in its testing phase, being tested by big entertainment brands and advertisers and is expected to help Snapchat compete against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.