Snapchat Advertising in Sweden: How Brands Reach a Young Audience With Creators and Paid Media

Written by Jacob Boe with the help of AI

Snapchat advertising in Sweden is one of the most direct ways to reach young Swedes – and it reaches older audiences than many think. According to Internetstiftelsen’s Svenskarna och internet, Snapchat is the social media Swedes aged 25 and younger use most every day, ahead of YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. For brands, that makes Snapchat a channel worth planning for, with creator content and paid media working together.

Here is how Snapchat advertising works, which formats to use, how creators fit in and what Swedish rules apply.

Who uses Snapchat in Sweden?

Snapchat is one of the five largest social media in Sweden, and among those born in the 2000s it is number one for daily use. It is not only a teenage app: among Swedes over 25, Snapchat is still in the top five for daily use. Snap’s own figures for Sweden show more than four million monthly users, of whom more than 55 percent are 25 or older. Swedish users open the app about 40 times a day, and more than 60 percent interact with AR Lenses daily. Across the Nordics, Snap says it reaches 90 percent of people aged 13–24.

What makes Snapchat different is how it is used. Most time is spent talking to friends – in chat, Snaps and Stories – rather than scrolling a public feed. That means the advertising must feel personal, fast and native to the format, which is exactly what creator content does well.

Which Snapchat ad formats should brands use?

Snap Ads: full-screen vertical video ads shown between Stories and in Spotlight. The standard format for reach and traffic.
Story Ads: a branded tile in Discover that opens a series of Snaps – good for telling a longer story or showing several products.
Collection Ads: a video together with product thumbnails that lead to the online store – built for e-commerce.
Sponsored AR Lenses: interactive filters that let users try on, play with or share the brand. Strong for awareness and launches.
Sponsored Snaps: ads delivered in the chat inbox, opened like a message from a friend. Check availability in Sweden before planning.
Commercials and First Story: non-skippable premium placements, including reserving the first video ad between friends’ Stories.

Does Snapchat advertising work?

Snap’s own studies point to strong brand effects. In a Kantar Context Lab study commissioned by Snap, opened Sponsored Snaps generated 2.3 times more lift in unaided brand awareness, 1.4 times more lift in ad awareness and 1.8 times more lift in purchase intent than other social platforms. About 85 percent of Snapchatters said Sponsored Snaps felt relevant to them. In the UK, Calvin Harris used Sponsored Snaps to launch a single, reaching 11.8 million Snapchatters and driving a 58 percent lift in Spotify streams.

These are platform figures, so test them against your own benchmarks. The pattern is still clear: on Snapchat, ads that feel personal and come from a face the audience recognises perform best.

How do creators and talents fit into Snapchat advertising?

Snapchat has its own creator programme, Snap Stars, and Snap has built a service – Snap Star Collab Studio – to connect brands with creators and produce sponsored Stories and ad creative. But the most important point is simpler: Snapchat ads work best when they look like Snapchat, and creators know how to make content that does.

There are two ways to use creators on Snapchat:

Organic: a well-known talent or creator shares the collaboration in their own Stories. With big names, this works very well on its own – the content reaches far and carries the creator’s credibility.
Paid: the creator produces vertical content that runs as Snap Ads, Collection Ads or Story Ads from the brand’s account. Paid media takes the content further and deeper into the target group – the right age, region and interests, several times and all the way to the product page.

The strongest campaigns combine the two. And because Snapchat content is vertical, short and made for sound on, the same production can often be reused on Instagram Stories and Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts – as long as the agreement covers it.

What does Snapchat advertising cost in Sweden?

Snap Ads are bought in Snap’s self-serve Ads Manager in an auction, so there is no fixed price: you set a budget and a goal, and the cost depends on the audience, the competition and how good the creative is. Premium formats such as Sponsored AR Lenses and Commercials require larger budgets and production. With creators, the budget has three parts: the creator fee, usage rights for paid use and the media budget itself. Plan all three from the start.

What rules apply to Snapchat advertising in Sweden?

The same rules as on other platforms. Under the Marketing Act, all advertising must be clearly recognisable as advertising, and Konsumentverket stresses that the company has the main responsibility for marketing published on its behalf. Creator content on Snapchat must be labelled clearly in the Snap itself – a story disappears quickly, so the disclosure has to be visible from the first second.

Because Snapchat reaches many teenagers, extra care is needed. ICC’s Advertising and Marketing Communications Code requires special care in marketing aimed at children and young people, and it must not exploit their inexperience. Choose targeting, products and messages accordingly – and remember that you need consent before using a person’s name or image in advertising.

How does Collabri work with Snapchat?

We start with the audience and the goal, not the platform. If the brand needs to reach young Swedes, Snapchat is often part of the media mix together with Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. We choose creators and talents who fit the message, produce vertical content made for Snapchat, agree the rights for paid use and plan the media from day one – the same model we used in the Swedish launch of Fazer Domino, where creators were combined with a paid strategy from the start and the campaign reached more than 3.5 million views.

Key takeaways

Snapchat is the most used daily social media among Swedes aged 25 and younger, and is in the top five among older Swedes too.
Use Snap Ads for reach, Collection Ads for e-commerce, AR Lenses for launches and Story Ads for longer stories.
Organic Stories with big names work well – paid media takes the content further and deeper into the target group.
Budget for creator fee, usage rights and media from the start.
Label advertising clearly from the first second, and take extra care with young audiences.

Frequently asked questions

Is Snapchat only for teenagers?

No. Snapchat is biggest among young Swedes, but according to Snap more than half of its Swedish users are 25 or older, and it is in the top five for daily use among Swedes over 25.

Can we advertise on Snapchat without creators?

Yes, but creator content usually fits the platform better. Snapchat is personal and fast, and ads that look like they come from a real person tend to feel more native than polished brand films.

Can Snapchat content be reused on other platforms?

Often, yes. Vertical, short videos with sound can work on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts too, provided the agreement with the creator covers those platforms and that period.

How do we get started?

Define the audience and the goal, choose the formats and plan creators, rights and media budget together. Collabri can help with the whole chain.

Want to reach young Swedes on Snapchat with the right creators and paid media? Contact Collabri at info@collabri.se. You can also browse our talents and client projects.

Sources

Internetstiftelsen – Svenskarna och internet 2025 – sammanfattning (2025): https://svenskarnaochinternet.se/app/uploads/2025/09/svenskarna-och-internet-2025-sammanfattning.pdf
Snap Inc. – An update on our Nordic community: nine million and growing (2023): https://newsroom.snap.com/an-update-on-our-nordic-community-nine-million-and-growing
Kantar – New Kantar Study Reveals Strong Brand Growth for Advertisers on Snap (2025): https://www.kantar.com/north-america/company-news/snap-kantar-context-lab-study
Snap Inc. – Snapchat at Advertising Week New York 2025 (2025): https://newsroom.snap.com/snap-at-advertising-week-ny-2025
Snap Inc. – Unlocking the Power of Real at the 2023 NewFronts (2023): https://newsroom.snap.com/unlocking-the-power-of-real-at-the-2023-newfronts
Konsumentverket – Influencers reklaminlägg – regler för företag: https://www.konsumentverket.se/marknadsratt-foretag/influencers-reklaminlagg-regler-for-foretag/
ICC Sverige – ICC:s regler för reklam och marknadskommunikation (2024): https://iccwbo.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/ICC_2024_MarketingCode_Swedish.pdf

This article was written with the help of AI and reviewed by Collabri.