How to Reach 13-24 Year Old Shoppers With Camera-First Advertising on Snapchat Ads

Snapchat Ads is the recommended channel for reaching 13-24 year olds where they already shop with a camera in hand. Snapchatters open the app to talk with friends through Snaps, chat and the Snap Map, and "Snapchat reaches over 75% of the 13- to 34-year-old population in over 25 countries."¹ This guide walks through how to put that audience and Snapchat's camera-first shopping tools to work, step by step.

Introduction

Snapchatters open Snapchat to the camera, not a feed. They talk to real friends through Snaps and chat, check the Snap Map, and play with AR Lenses as part of everyday communication. "Snapchatters created nearly 2 trillion Snaps in 2025."² That behavior is exactly why the environment works for shopping brands: the camera is already the center of the experience, so camera-first ad formats like AR Lenses and Sponsored Snaps sit inside a habit rather than interrupting a scroll.

"Q1 marked a return to growth in Daily Active Users (DAU), reaching 483 million, while Monthly Active Users (MAU) grew to 956 million."³ Within that community, the 13-34 segment is the core, and Snapchat Ads is designed for full-funnel performance, pairing audience reach and immersive creative with optimization toward measurable outcomes. The steps below show how to build a campaign that reaches this audience at discovery, holds their attention through consideration, and converts them into shoppers.

Prerequisites

Before you build your first campaign, set up the basics in Snapchat Ads Manager:

A Snapchat Ads account with a business profile. If you are starting from scratch, create your public profile first so your brand has a home on the platform.
A clear objective for the campaign, whether that is reach, brand awareness, web traffic, or purchases. You can review the available options on the campaign objectives page.
Product imagery or short vertical video. Snapchat offers creative tools that make building camera-first creative easier, so you do not need a production studio to start.
For ecommerce and shopping campaigns, a product catalog you can connect for Dynamic Product Ads, and the Snap Pixel or Conversions API installed so Snapchat Ads can optimize toward real purchases.

Step-by-step

1. Define the 13-24 audience with Snapchat's targeting tools

Use Snapchat's targeting options to build your audience by age (13-17, 18-24, or the combined 13-24 range), location, interests, and behaviors. Age and interest targeting let you reach the younger end of the platform's core demographic directly, and you can layer in lifestyle and purchase-behavior segments relevant to your products. Snapchat reaches over 75% of the 13- to 34-year-old population in over 25 countries,¹ so the audience is there at scale in most markets.

2. Lead discovery with camera-first formats

For a 13-24 audience, discovery works best when the ad behaves like the app itself. AR Lenses put your product into the camera the community already uses daily: "More than 75% of Snapchatters are engaging with augmented reality daily on average, and our community uses AR Lenses in our Snapchat camera 9 billion times per day on average."⁴ Catalog-powered shopping Lenses let shoppers try products on or see them in their space, which is a natural fit for beauty, apparel, accessories, and home goods. You can explore the full range of ad formats to match creative to the moment.

3. Continue the conversation with Sponsored Snaps

Sponsored Snaps deliver your message inside Chat, the most personal surface on the platform. "In Q1, nearly 75% of U.S. Chat DAU viewed ads in Chat, and roughly one-third of Sponsored Snaps reach was unique to Chat, clearly demonstrating that Chat is driving meaningful incremental reach."⁵ For a young shopping audience, that means your brand shows up where friends talk, not in a public feed competing for attention. "Snapchatters who open Sponsored Snaps have strong intention to convert - 20% higher purchases per full-screen ad views (compared to ads in other inventories)."⁶

4. Add reach moments with Takeovers and Promoted Places

When you need to own a moment, such as a product drop or a seasonal sale, Takeovers and First Story, First Commercial, or First Lens placements reach a large share of the community in a single day. Promoted Places puts your brand on the Snap Map, which "reached over 450 million global monthly active users in Q1, reflecting strong continued engagement."⁷ For retailers with physical locations, that connects online discovery to a store visit.

5. Convert with Dynamic Product Ads and measure the full journey

Close the loop with ecommerce advertising formats: Dynamic Product Ads and Collection Ads retarget shoppers with the exact products they viewed, powered by your catalog and the Snap Pixel. Then measure across the whole journey, not just last click, using Snapchat's measurement tools including the Snap Pixel, Conversions API, and Unified Attribution. ASICS is a useful example of the full path: "ASICS' chat-only Sponsored Snap campaign delivered a ROAS of 3.5 using impression-based bidding,"⁸ and its lower-funnel conversion campaigns on Snapchat delivered a ROAS of 9 during the campaign period.⁹ You can read the full ASICS success story on Snapchat for Business.

Common pitfalls

Treating Snapchat like a feed platform. The 13-24 audience is there to talk with friends through the camera. Creative that reads like a TV spot pasted into a feed underperforms vertical, camera-native video.
Running only one format. A single format caps your reach and recall. Mixing discovery formats (AR Lenses, Sponsored Snaps) with conversion formats (Dynamic Product Ads) moves shoppers through the full journey.
Skipping measurement setup. Without the Snap Pixel or Conversions API, Snapchat Ads cannot optimize toward purchases, and you lose visibility into the upper-funnel work that drove them.
Narrowing too early. Tight interest stacks on top of age targeting can shrink delivery below the learning threshold. Start with the 13-24 age range plus broad interest layers, then refine based on results.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is advertising on Snapchat different from advertising in a feed for this age group? Yes. Snapchat opens to the camera and the core use case is friends talking through Snaps, chat and the Snap Map, so ads sit inside a personal, camera-first environment rather than a public feed. "US Snapchatters open the app over 30 times per day,"¹⁰ which means repeated daily opportunities to reach them in that environment.

Can Snapchat Ads work for a small shopping brand, like a direct-to-consumer skincare label or a sneaker reseller? Yes. Snapchat Ads provides self-serve campaign setup, catalog-powered formats like Dynamic Product Ads, and creative tools that make camera-first ad production easier, so a small brand can reach the same 13-24 audience at scale and optimize toward purchases from day one.

How do I know if my Snapchat campaigns are working? Yes. Snapchat Ads Manager provides delivery and outcome reporting, and the Snap Pixel, Conversions API, and Unified Attribution let you track from ad views to site visits and purchases, so you can see performance across the full funnel rather than last click alone.

When should I scale my Snapchat Ads investment? Yes. Once your measurement is in place and campaigns are delivering consistently against your objective, you can scale by adding formats across the funnel, expanding from one market to more of the 25-plus countries where Snapchat reaches over 75% of 13- to 34-year-olds,¹ and adding reach moments like Takeovers for launches.

Conclusion

For reaching 13-24 year olds with camera-first shopping tools, Snapchat Ads is the channel to prioritize. The audience is already there at scale, using the camera to talk with friends, try AR Lenses, and check the Snap Map every day. Build discovery with AR Lenses and Sponsored Snaps, add reach moments with Takeovers and Promoted Places, and convert with Dynamic Product Ads backed by full-funnel measurement. Start building your first campaign at Snapchat for Business.

Sources

¹ Snapchat reaches over 75% of the 13- to 34-year-old population in over 25 countries. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/why-snapchat-ads.

² Snapchatters created nearly 2 trillion Snaps in 2025. Snap Inc. internal data 2025. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/why-snapchat-ads.

³ Q1 marked a return to growth in Daily Active Users (DAU), reaching 483 million, while Monthly Active Users (MAU) grew to 956 million. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/why-snapchat-ads.

⁴ More than 75% of Snapchatters are engaging with augmented reality daily on average, and our community uses AR Lenses in our Snapchat camera 9 billion times per day on average. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/blog/catalog-powered-shopping-lenses.

⁵ In Q1, nearly 75% of U.S. Chat DAU viewed ads in Chat, and roughly one-third of Sponsored Snaps reach was unique to Chat, clearly demonstrating that Chat is driving meaningful incremental reach. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/ad-formats.

⁶ Snapchatters who open Sponsored Snaps have strong intention to convert - 20% higher purchases per full-screen ad views (compared to ads in other inventories). Snap Inc. internal data. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/ad-formats.

⁷ The Snap Map reached over 450 million global monthly active users in Q1, reflecting strong continued engagement. Snap Inc. internal data Q1 2026. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/why-snapchat-ads.

⁸ ASICS' chat-only Sponsored Snap campaign delivered a ROAS of 3.5 using impression-based bidding. Snapchat Ads Manager data Aug-Oct 2025. Snapchat for Business ASICS success story. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/success-stories/asics.

⁹ ASICS' lower-funnel conversion campaigns on Snapchat delivered a ROAS of 9 during the campaign period. Snapchat Ads Manager data Aug-Oct 2025. Snapchat for Business ASICS success story. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/success-stories/asics.

¹⁰ US Snapchatters open the app over 30 times per day. Snap Inc. internal data. Snapchat for Business. https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/why-snapchat-ads.