• by Colin Kirkland , April 8, 2025

Snapchat’s newest ad format -- Sponsored AI Lenses -- taps into the social media company’s insistence on immersive AI-generated branding experiences, with companies like Uber and Tinder finding early success. 

For years, brands have been able to pay for Sponsored Lenses on Snapchat. This new format, however, introduces a more immersive and interactive alternative due to users’ ability to capture selfies of themselves transformed by branded AI-generated visuals. 

“Sponsored AI Lenses expand on our AR offerings by integrating Generative AI into First Lens Unlimited, giving brands high visibility in the Camera for 24 hours,” a spokesperson told MediaPost, adding that the new format drives between 25% and 45% more impressions in a single day compared to traditional ads. 

Snap says select advertisers have already tested the new ad format. 

For Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, Uber and Tinder launched Sponsored AI Lenses that invited users to capture themselves and their festive environments in fantastical ways, unlocking higher than average playtimes for both brands, according to Snap. 

Coldplay also used AI Lenses to bring their fans into a galactic-themed world to promote their most recent record, “Moon Music.”

When asked whether this new format is designed to attract more small businesses to the platform -- a recent strategy Snapchat has implemented to boost its ad business -- the company said that “while this is a high-impact format, we continue to invest in AI-powered creative tools that make innovative advertising more accessible to businesses of all sizes.”

Over the past two years, Snap has focused on refining its generative-AI technology. Snap says that Sponsored AI Lenses eliminate the need for 3D and VFX design, replacing them with AI-generated templates that cut down production timelines. 

In its most recent quarterly report, over 400 million users engaged with new AI-generated Lenses more than 4 billion times. 

Snap has worked on fusing its proprietary AR technology with branding opportunities, stating that the combination of AR ads with video ads on the platform have resulted in a 1.6x higher Ad Awareness Lift on average compared to video ads alone. 

Furthermore, the company says that campaigns including AR in their mix drive 5x more active attention compared to industry peers.