Snapchat rebrands Promoted Stories as Story Ads & makes them available via its self-serve ads manager

Previously called Promoted Stories, the new Story Ads remain within the app’s Discover feed but are now available via auction-based bidding.

Snapchat is changing up its Promoted Stories, now calling the ad format Story Ads and making them available programmatically via its self-serve ads manager.

Previously only available to advertisers as a fixed slot near the top of Snapchat’s Discover feed, Story Ads will now include the same targeting options and auction-based pricing as Snap Ads, which have been available in the platform’s self-serve ad tool since last June.

The difference between Snap Ads and Story Ads is that Story Ads are exclusive to the Discover feed, offering advertisers the chance to purchase a Discover tile that includes three to 10 Snaps. Anyone viewing a Story ad can swipe up to see more content from the advertiser, like a product site, video or app install.

With the targeting options available in the ads manager, advertisers will now be able to build a campaign around their Story Ads using Snapchat’s more than 500 predefined audiences.

Snap has been ramping up its advertising offerings these past weeks, leading up to tomorrow’s Q1 2018 earnings call. Less than a month ago, it rolled out new location-based targeting for advertisers, and earlier this month, it introduced Shoppable Lenses. Last week, news broke that the company was testing six-second unskippable ads to run during its Shows content featured in the Discover section of the app.