Snap's advertising business has leaned towards performance for several years, and 2026 made that explicit. Small and medium advertisers made up more than 30 percent of its global ad revenue in the first quarter, and revenue from dynamic product ads grew 43 percent in the second. On 10 September Snap launched what it calls the Commerce Power Pack, its biggest set of shopping tools yet, ahead of the holiday season.
Product ads in Chat
The headline change puts dynamic product ads, the catalogue ads that show each person the products they are most likely to want, inside Sponsored Snaps, the ads that arrive in Snapchat's Chat inbox. AI recommendations pick the products. Snap says it is available now to advertisers worldwide, which includes the UAE and Saudi Arabia. In a controlled study in July 2026, Snap says these campaigns, optimised for purchases, improved seven-day cost per acquisition by 22 percent. It also says 85 percent of Snapchatters use Chat regularly, from a 2024 study it commissioned.
New ways to optimise
- Value Optimization, in beta for web and app advertisers, optimises for return on ad spend and higher-value purchases rather than the number of purchases.
- Third-Party Web Optimization, in open beta for web advertisers, combines Snap's own signals with third-party measurement. Snap says advertisers measuring with Google Analytics saw a 23 percent lower cost per purchase and 37 percent higher return on ad spend, as that third party measured them, and that Northbeam users saw 37 percent lower cost per purchase and 64 percent higher return.
- Omnichannel Optimization, in alpha, captures purchases on the web and in an app in a single campaign.
Snap did not name markets for the three betas. Ask your Snap contact whether your clients' accounts can join.
AI in Chat and in Ads Manager
- AI Sponsored Snaps, announced in April, let a brand put its own AI agent into Chat, so a person who opens the ad can have a conversation with the brand. It is in alpha, with Experian as the first named partner.
- Snap Smart Assistant, launched in June and available globally, helps set up campaigns and checks their health inside Ads Manager.
- New creative tools in Ads Manager upscale images, turn an image into video and improve backgrounds.
- A Snap Ads MCP server, live since 3 August, lets AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini read Snap ad accounts. It is read-only for now and needs an administrator's approval.
- Snap says nearly 70 percent of its ad spend already uses at least one of its automation tools for audiences, budgets or placements.
Better measurement for apps and leads
- Unified Attribution, available globally since 31 August, feeds data from mobile measurement partners into Snap's optimisation, starting with AppsFlyer and Adjust. Snap says one beta advertiser cut cost per acquisition by 26 percent compared with campaigns optimised through Apple's SKAdNetwork.
- A HubSpot integration, since July, sends Snap lead form entries into HubSpot and events back to Snap through its Conversions API. Snap says click-through on its lead ads rose 77 percent year on year and cost per lead fell 26 percent.
What it means in the Gulf
Snapchat is where much of Saudi Arabia spends its day, and Snap repeated in 2026 that its community in the Kingdom numbers 26 million. For e-commerce clients, product ads in Chat are the most useful change, because they are available now and use the same catalogue as existing dynamic product ads. Two things to check first:
- The catalogue. Product names, prices and images must be accurate, in Arabic and English where the store sells in both, because AI now chooses which products to show in a personal space.
- The pixel and Conversions API. Optimising for purchases, value or return on ad spend only works with reliable purchase data, including order value.
Sponsored Snaps do not allow offer-based ads, or ads in the housing, employment and credit categories.
How to test it
- Run product ads in Chat alongside existing dynamic product ads, with the same catalogue, and compare cost per purchase over at least two weeks.
- If the client measures in Google Analytics, ask to join Third-Party Web Optimization, and compare Snap's numbers with the client's own.
- For apps, connect AppsFlyer or Adjust to Unified Attribution before the next campaign.
- Keep a person in the loop when AI chooses products, especially in regulated categories.
The UTM builder on this site tags Snapchat links consistently, so the client's own analytics can check what Snap reports.
