Last year, Snapchat started laying the foundations to make Snapchat more accessible to small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), with the goal of creating a more consistent, sustainable and diverse ad revenue stream. And so far, the strategy appears to be paying off, according to the company’s recent earnings call.

With a big year ahead to prove these investments were, and continue to be, the right ones for Snapchat to make, Digiday caught up with Snap’s vp of SMB and mid-market executive Sid Malhotra, to get the lowdown on how important SMBs are to Snapchat’s overall ad revenue stream, what the platform can offer advertisers that its platform peers can’t, and what prevented advertisers from giving the company a proper chance — until now.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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Smaller platforms are in a fierce tug-of-war for small- to medium-sized business (SMB) ad dollars, betting that these smaller advertisers hold the key to future growth — and they’re looking to AI-powered tools to capture their ad spend.

Platforms like Snapchat, Pinterest and Reddit have long leaned on big brand budgets — a strategy with limits given the finite pool of major advertisers. Now, they’re making a bigger play for SMBs, hoping that casting a wider net will reel in a fresh wave of ad dollars.

And if their latest earnings are any indication, the bet is starting to pay off. Here are some highlights from the platforms’ earnings:

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It looks like Snapchat’s hard efforts to win over small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are finally starting to pay off.

The platform has been really focused on improving its direct response business, which includes expanding data partnerships, more ad products, simpler buying and automation tools, such as its recently announced AI-powered Smart budget optimization feature — effectively making Snap’s ad platform more accessible to the SMB category of advertisers.

“You can see Snap is [now] applying the playbook that has worked so well for the bigger ad platforms [Meta and Google],” said Jamie MacEwan, senior analyst at Enders Analysis. “It is still far behind [the bigger platforms] on revenues and [average revenue per user], so there is room for decent growth in SMB advertiser numbers and revenues if it gets the execution right.”

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It took a while but Snap is finally jumping on the AI-powered ad bandwagon — following in the footsteps of Google, Facebook and the rest, which have been launching such tools since 2021.

The move is all about strengthening its appeal to the smaller advertisers it has spent years pursuing. As Snap’s CEO Evan Spiegel highlighted on the platform’s latest earnings call (Feb. 4), small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) were the “largest contributor to ad revenue growth in 2024,” having been a big focus area for the team over the past 12 months. He stated that the company had achieved $1.56 billion during the fourth quarter of 2024, and a total of $5.36 billion for the full year, though he didn’t share specific breakdowns on how much of those numbers were thanks to their SMB advertisers.

Still, speaking to analysts, Snap CFO Derek Andersen said the team has a “pretty robust roadmap and enhancements on the way for SMB clients” this year, while teasing that during this first quarter of 2025, they’ll be testing one key product: a new smart budget optimization feature.

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It’s no secret that YouTube stands to benefit if TikTok gets the boot from the U.S., but the longer the uncertainty drags on, the clearer that opportunity becomes.

Google’s svp and chief Philipp Schindler made that crystal clear on the company’s earnings call (Feb. 4), telling analysts that ad revenue from Shorts — YouTube’s answer to TikTok — is quickly catching up to its long-form content.

“In 2024, the monetization rate of short relative to in-stream viewing increased by more than 30 percentage points in the U.S. and we expect to make additional progress in 2025,” he said on the call, though he didn’t share specific figures to compare formats.

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What was once a brand exodus from Twitter could be turning into a brand influx to X.

Behind the scenes, some advertisers have been inching toward a return for months. According to four ad execs familiar with 2025 media plans, a quiet reconsideration has been underway with some of those advertisers weighing whether the platform’s baggage has eased — or its advantages have grown — enough to make a comeback worthwhile. 

“We’ve seen some clients return to advertising on X since November,” said one of those ad execs on condition of anonymity.

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President Donald Trump’s second presidential term — from the TikTok back-and-forth, to the placement of Big Tech execs both at his inauguration and in the Oval Office — has already been notable. Here’s where the ad industry stands with all of this (so far).

In
Big Tech engineering free speech with government support
Out 
Big Tech defending free speech amid government pressure

In
FTC going after Big Tech’s censorship cartel 
Out
FTC going after Big Tech’s surveillance capitalism

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For 14 hours on January 19, 2025, TikTok disappeared from the U.S., plunging marketers into a state of collective panic. The app, once synchronized with teenage dance crazes and meme culture, had become a cultural juggernaut — and for many brands, a hard to replace lifeline.

“It was a shell shock to the system,” said Jennifer Kohl, chief media officer at VML, the ad agency that had clients suddenly grappling with a possibility they’d only entertained in hypotheticals: life without TikTok.

Six years of political theatrics had turned the app into a lightning rod branded a national security threat and dragged repeatedly to the brink of extinction in the U.S. But in a twist that might as well as come from TikTok’s own algorithm, President Donald Trump stepped in, reviving the app’s chances with a 75-day lifeline to resolve its future.

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Jan. 20 has arrived, and Congress’ ultimatum for ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban has come and gone without resolution. Neither a sale or a ban came to fruition. Instead, TikTok lives on, thanks to President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to stall the federal crackdown on the app with an executive order. 

He made the announcement just hours after major app stores had yanked the app, and TikTok went dark for U.S. users as a federal law kicked in on Sunday. In a post on X, the short-form video app assured users it was in “agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service.”

What was supposed to be a decisive chapter in this long-running saga has, true to form, delivered more confusion than clarity. Questions linger, answers remain scarce.

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The sun rose on Jan. 20, and despite U.S. Congress’ ultimatum for ByeDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban, TikTok is still alive and kicking. A last-minute lifeline from President-elect Donald Trump has left its fate dangling, not decided. 

What’s next? A labyrinth of political wrangling that leaves skeptics wondering if TikTok’s future in one of its largest markets is any less murky than it was six years ago when the first doubts were cast.

But for marketers, this limbo doesn’t mean their prep work was for nothing. While the immediate storm may have passed, the effort was far from wasted — it’s just on pause. If anything, the real takeaway here is to embrace uncertainty: preparation isn’t optional, it’s essential. Plan for the worst-case scenario, but an eye out for the best.

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With TikTok’s fate in the U.S. dangling between the Supreme Court and President-elect Donald Trump, competitors are moving in to try and claim its ad dollars.

Snapchat, for example, isn’t holding back. In recent pitches to marketers, the app’s ad sales team has highlighted the notable audience overlap between Snapchat and TikTok in the U.S., both on a daily and monthly basis, according to two slides shared with Digiday.

The first slide shows Snapchat’s claim that 60% of U.S. users over the age of 18 also use TikTok daily, while the second slide highlights that 77% of Snapchat’s U.S. users aged 18 or over use TikTok monthly. Both slides strongly indicate that anyone seeking a possible replacement could at least find a majority of their TikTok users over on Snapchat.

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Advertisers may still be standing by TikTok for now, but its execs are eyeing the door as the app’s U.S. future grows increasingly precarious. 

Since the start of the year, two senior leaders from its ad team have already made their exit. Sameer Singh, general manager for global business solutions in North America, is reportedly leaving the platform, after three-and-a-half years of service. It’s understood he is available to support the transition for his team until the end of February. Days later, it was reported that Jack Bamberger, general manager of agency business for the region, had already left on Jan. 3, having only worked at TikTok since March 2024. 

While they have not said publicly why they departed, the timing is hard to ignore — coming just days before the Supreme Court weighed in on a pivotal case that could determine the platform’s fate in the U.S. last week (Jan. 10). Neither Singh nor Bamberger responded to Digiday’s request for comment.

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Ads that target AI agents rather than humans might sound like something ripped from the pages of sci-fi, but it’s a concept that’s gaining traction among marketers thanks to recent musings by Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. On the “Marketing Against The Grain” podcast, he painted a picture of a future where  “user never sees an ad. Unlike Google, the different merchants are not competing for users’ attention. They’re competing for the AI agents’ attention”.

Naturally, Srinivas’ comments have unleashed a torrent of hot takes. Somewhere in the swirl of opinions, a few recurring arguments emerge — both for and against this seemingly far-fetched, yet not entirely implausible, vision.

Cases for ads served to AI agents

It provides a cleaner user experience
People are over the endless deluge of ads — especially the ones that miss the mark entirety. But if AI agents became the new target for advertisers, the constant stream of ads could disappear from view altogether. The result? A cleaner, ad-free user experience, letting consumers enjoy the web and their platforms without the usual interruptions.

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TikTok’s ultimatum — shutdown in the U.S. or get a lifeline from the Supreme Court — is the latest plot twist in a whirlwind month that’s left markets in a tailspin. With the app’s future hanging by a thread, marketers are navigating murky waters, scrambling to make sense of what it all means for their plans.

Late last month, Chris (not his real name) fired off an email to his TikTok rep. As the go-to guy for managing client ad spend at his agency, he needed clarity ahead of a critical moment for the app, the looming federal deadline that could force ByteDance to sell TikTok — or face a U.S. ban. The response he got wasn’t just telling, it was practically a confession. TikTok reps were offering make-goods to advertisers locking in ad inventory through the end of the second quarter.

For the first time since whispers of a ban began six years ago, TikTok seemed to be bracing for the possibility that its American swan song might not be far off.

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If Perplexity wants to make a mark on advertising, Andrew Beck will be one to watch.

As head of business development, he’s been at the forefront of convincing advertisers (so far) to buy in — a task he took on just months before the company began selling ads around its search results.

And what a task it is: leading the AI startup’s bold attempt to challenge Google’s auction-based ad system, where marketers bid for sponsored links against search queries. Instead, Perplexity’s model lets marketers sponsor questions, generating AI-produced answers approved by the advertiser. The twist is its reliance on CPMs over CPCs, an unexpected approach for an AI-powered search engine.

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Snapchat’s subscription play is shaping up to be one of media’s most compelling plotlines in 2025. 

While subscriptions are still a modest slice of Snap’s revenue pie, they’re giving the company’s top line a noticeable lift. Case in point: Snap’s ad revenue climbed 10% to $1.25 billion in its last quarter, but thanks to $123 million in non-ad revenue — largely driven by its member program, Snapchat+ — the company posted a 15% overall revenue jump to $1.37 billion.

It’s a rare win for a platform navigating a precarious business model, heavily dependent on fiercely contested ad dollars.

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LinkedIn may be chasing the deep pockets of mainstream brands these days, but it’s not neglecting the lifeblood of its ad business. B2B companies are still front and center of its latest market pitch. 

Specifically when it comes to its own AI-powered campaign tool Accelerate. Unlike the offerings from Google and Meta, this tool is designed with B2B marketers in mind.

As LinkedIn’s vp of product management, Abhishek Shrivastava, explained: “B2B marketers have to make do with how to fit their own needs into the existing B2C tools.”

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TikTok’s turbulent year in the U.S. barely rattled marketers — until now. As the app enters its final countdown, marketers are taking the ban more seriously than ever because it’s looking increasingly like TikTok, at least in its current guise, is on borrowed time.

Earlier this month, the app’s U.S. prospects hit a new low. A federal appeals court ruled that national security concerns outweigh First Amendment protections, forcing ByteDance to divest TiKTok if it wants to remain in the market.

Although TikTok plans to appeal, there’s no guarantee that the Supreme Court will take the case. Historically the court defers to Congress on national security matters, and a bipartisan coalition has framed TikTok as a risk to Americans’ data privacy and a potential tool for manipulating its powerful recommendation algorithms.

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Elon Musk’s social media platform X is once again chasing ad dollars around video content — this time armed with some official (though still self-reported) stats.

According to internal data from the platform shared with marketers, video views have grown 40% year over year in 2024, surpassing 8.3 billion total views. That’s a slight bump from the 8 billion daily views reported by Digiday in May.

Fueling this growth is X’s foray into original content like “The Offseason,” a series spotlighting the National Women’s Soccer League. Per X, the series racked up 2.5 million views within its first 24 hours on the platform.

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