Snapchat opens up sponsored geofilters to outside ad partners
Snapchat has opened up its sponsored geofilters feature to outside partners, allowing them to buy, manage, and report analytics for them, alongside full-screen video ads, according to reports. The aim is to expand use of on-demand filters among advertisers, with WeddingWire, MomentFeed, Hootsuite and Eventfarm among the first brands to start selling them in the coming weeks. Snapchat's rival Facebook recently started showing location-specific camera frames on Instagram.

An example of a sponsored geofilter Adidas showed in Snapchat for one of its store openings. Dan Freebairn

Snapchat is looking to geofilters as the next source of growth for its fledgling ad business.

Starting Monday, Snapchat maker Snap Inc. is allowing its ad partners in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada to sell and manage sponsored geofilters, which allow Snapchat users to place special filters over their photos and videos in certain locations.

Snap's more than a dozen outside ad partners, like Amobee and VaynerMedia, will now be able to sell sponsored geofilters alongside fullscreen video ads, a Snap spokesperson told Business Insider. Sponsored geofilters could previously only be purchased directly through Snapchat's own self-service tool, which launched in February 2016.

By giving outside partners the ability to buy, manage, and report analytics for sponsored geofilters alongside video ads, Snap is hoping that the geofilter format will catch on more widely with advertisers. The company has previously touted paid, on-demand geofilters as a more consumer-oriented feature by showing how people can create custom filters for events like weddings and birthday parties.

What advertisers will see in Amobee if they opt to buy a geofilter. Snap

Snap is also looking to make paid geofilters more available to marketers with other outside partners. In the coming weeks, the company will start selling on-demand geofilters through the wedding planning site WeddingWire, Hootsuite, Eventfarm, and MomentFeed.

Snap has yet to disclose how much money it makes off sponsored geofilters, and pricing for the format varies based on duration and location. Covering the size of about 17 football fields in downtown Los Angeles for five hours on a Friday evening would cost roughly $35, for example, while the same size and duration in midtown Manhattan would cost roughly $170.

Snapchat's geofilters are another feature that's been copied by Facebook, which recently started showing location-specific camera frames in Instagram and is currently testing them in its main app.