Snapchat is steadily strengthening its position in India’s digital advertising market as brands increasingly look beyond conventional social media formats to engage younger consumers. The momentum comes as Snap’s advertising business continues to expand globally, with revenue rising 11% year-on-year to $5.93 billion in 2025, supported by improvements in advertiser performance, AI-led ad products, and broader monetisation initiatives.

Against that backdrop, India has emerged as one of Snapchat’s most important growth markets. The platform has recorded a 10-fold growth in advertisers over the past two years and a three-fold increase in advertisers spending consistently across all four quarters, signalling a shift from experimentation to sustained media investments.

For the platform, scale alone is not the story. With over 250 million users in India, Snap says nearly 90% of its Indian audience belongs to Gen Z—an increasingly influential consumer cohort already accounting for 43% of India’s consumption and expected to command spending power of $2 trillion by 2035.

As brands recalibrate their digital strategies, Snapchat is positioning itself as an engagement-led advertising platform built around how younger consumers communicate rather than how they passively consume content.

Speaking at a media interaction in Mumbai, Snap executives said advertisers are increasingly prioritising effectiveness and attention quality over pure reach.

“We are no longer viewed as an innovation bucket or a testing platform,” said Neha Jolly Sawhney, head of Ad Revenue at Snap India. “Brands today are far more focused on understanding how every media rupee is performing, and they want platforms that can deliver measurable outcomes.”

The company attributes the advertiser momentum to broader adoption of immersive ad formats, the opening up of Chat as an advertising environment, and continued investments in AI-led targeting, measurement and optimisation capabilities.

Rohit Kapoor, CEO, Swiggy Food Marketplace, said consumer attention remains the most valuable currency in on-demand businesses.

“In the on-demand and quick-commerce ecosystem, driving high-intent consumer attention is paramount. Our strategic approach to digital engagement is rooted in the first principles of ‘Contextual Commerce’, reaching consumers when they are in an active, communicative mindset,” Kapoor said.

He added that Snapchat has emerged as an effective channel for Swiggy to integrate into visual conversations among Gen Z users through Chat and immersive AR experiences.

“This scaled partnership helps us seamlessly translate deep user engagement into instant business outcomes and has consistently contributed to our broader brand-building momentum,” he said.

Why are brands shifting more budgets to Snapchat?

Unlike feed-led social platforms, Snapchat’s advertising strategy revolves around a multi-format ecosystem spanning augmented reality (AR), video and conversation-based advertising.

Yagnesh Ravi, lead Ad Solutions at Snap India, said traditional digital advertising formats are increasingly struggling to hold consumer attention.

“Gen Z is already shaping consumption today, but conventional media playbooks are becoming less effective because users are developing fatigue towards passive advertising,” Ravi said.

Research commissioned by Snap indicates that users who find their time on platforms more meaningful tend to be significantly more receptive to advertising and more likely to take action.

The company says this behavioural shift is translating into stronger business outcomes across categories including quick commerce, food delivery, retail, entertainment and consumer brands.

Food delivery platform Zomato has also adopted Snapchat’s broader format mix.

Sahibjeet Singh Sawhney, marketing head, Zomato, said the platform’s combination of Video, AR and Sponsored Snaps enables stronger audience engagement.

“Snapchat's multi-format strategy across Video, AR, and Sponsored Snaps creates a brand experience that feels truly interactive and engaging, one that builds a deeper, more meaningful connection with audiences. That's a worthwhile difference and we've seen it reflect in our results,” he said.

Can immersive advertising become the next growth engine?

For media agencies, Snapchat’s growth reflects a broader change in advertiser behaviour.

Ashwin Padmanabhan, COO, WPP Media South Asia, said brands increasingly see Snapchat as a platform that can no longer be ignored in India.

“Gen Z’s economic influence is no longer a future projection—they are actively shaping household consumption decisions today,” Padmanabhan said.

He added that standard digital advertising models are reaching their limits because younger users have developed what he described as a “defensive attention deficit” toward passive advertising.

“Our collaboration with Snapchat on Attention Advantage research highlights why their ad infrastructure is gaining traction. Brands are realising that when users shift from public algorithmic feeds to meaningful close-friend communication spaces, their openness to advertising fundamentally changes,” he said.

According to Padmanabhan, interactive AR and high-attention Chat formats are helping brands work with consumer behaviour rather than compete against it.

As competition intensifies across digital platforms, Snapchat is betting that the next phase of advertising growth in India will be driven less by interruption and more by participation.