Snap India MD Pulkit Trivedi says attention will replace impressions as the key ad metric. With 250M MAU and 10x advertiser growth, can the platform convert trial into retention?
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Pulkit Trivedi, Managing Director of Snap India, told businessline that attention will become the next dominant advertising currency. Measuring reach, impressions and video views is no longer sufficient for brands targeting Gen Z consumers who discover products inside private conversations, communities and creator content rather than traditional social feeds.
The simple read is that Snap wants advertisers to stop counting impressions and start measuring whether users actually paid attention. The better read asks why Snap is making this claim now.
Attention is harder to standardize than impressions. Without an industry-wide definition, each platform will define it in self-serving ways. Snap’s pitch rests on the claim that its immersive formats – augmented reality lenses, full-screen video, private story ads – create a context where attention is naturally higher than on auto-scrolling feeds. The company backs that with AI-powered advertising tools for automated bidding, audience targeting and creative optimization that it says lower customer acquisition costs and lift conversions.
Practical rule: If a platform cannot capture attention at the point of discovery and the point of purchase simultaneously, it loses the conversion. Snap argues its camera-first, messaging-native design does exactly that.
Most advertisers still pay for impressions, video views and reach. Those metrics measure delivery, not engagement. A user can scroll past an autoplay video without registering the brand. Trivedi’s argument is that attention – measured through dwell time, interaction rates and downstream conversion – correlates better with sales.
Risk to watch: Without a third-party audited standard, advertisers must trust platform self-reporting. Snap’s AI tools may improve conversion tracking, the black-box nature of algorithmic attribution makes it hard to isolate Snap’s incremental contribution.
Snap’s differentiation rests on a demographic fact: more than 90% of its 250 million monthly active users in India are between 13 and 30 years old. This cohort does not move through a neat awareness-to-purchase funnel. Discovery happens inside a group chat, shopping happens via a link shared by a creator, and the conversation continues in the same thread.
“The classic funnel is not linear anymore. Discovery, shopping and conversations are all happening simultaneously, and brands need to adapt to that reality,” Trivedi said.
Instead of asking “how many impressions did I buy?”, advertisers should ask three questions:
Snap’s pitch is that its AR lenses, full-screen video and private story ads create the high-attention context, while AI tools optimize delivery to the users most likely to act. If this holds, Snap can justify higher cost per thousand impressions by showing better downstream conversion rates.
Snap reports that its advertiser base in India has grown 10x over the past two years. The number of brands spending consistently on the platform has tripled. The company says it moved from an experimental platform to a core part of media plans for many advertisers.
Trivedi estimates India’s digital advertising market, currently valued at over $10 billion, could expand to $18-20 billion over the next three to five years.
A 10x growth in advertiser count sounds impressive, the starting point may have been very small. Snap does not disclose absolute numbers. The fact that consistent spenders only tripled while total advertisers grew 10x suggests many brands are testing the platform without committing. The next question is retention: how many advertisers renew after the test campaign?
Key insight: Snap needs to convert trial advertisers into long-term budget holders. The AI-driven automation that Trivedi credits with lowering customer acquisition costs and lifting conversions will be critical. If the tools deliver measurable return on ad spend, retention will follow. If not, the advertiser base may plateau.
Snap is investing heavily in AI-powered advertising tools. Trivedi cited “a massive lift in conversions and lower customer acquisition costs through AI-led automation.” The automation handles bidding, audience targeting and creative optimization – the three levers advertisers pull to improve campaign efficiency.
The company calls itself a “moments marketing platform,” targeting cultural events such as IPL, Diwali and Holi when user engagement surges. During the recent IPL season, Snap deployed a real-time advertising format that triggered brand offers the moment a six was hit.
“We are a moments marketing platform. The emotional affinity associated with how a brand message shows up during these moments is very different, and we’ve seen it translate into outcomes,” Trivedi said.
Example: A brand that activates a real-time offer during a six in an IPL match captures user attention at the peak of emotional engagement – a moment when standard display ads cannot compete.
Snap is not the only platform chasing Gen Z attention in India. Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and ShareChat also target the same demographic. Each claims its own version of high engagement. Snap differentiates through private messaging and AR, those features are replicable. Meta is investing in AR and messaging commerce.
Attention as a metric is still immature. Snap’s AI tools may improve conversion tracking, the burden is on advertisers to validate that “attention” on Snapchat actually drives incremental revenue, not just brand lift metrics that are easy to game.
What this means: Advertisers should run holdout tests comparing campaigns with and without Snap’s attention-focused formats. If incremental sales per dollar are higher, the thesis holds. If not, Snap’s growth story remains a narrative without proof.
Snap does not break out India revenue or advertiser retention publicly. The concrete markers to watch are:
Snap (NYSE: SNAP) is making a bet that attention-based measurement will become the industry standard. The India market is a test bed. If Trivedi’s predictions on market size ($18-20B) and advertiser growth are validated by future earnings reports, the stock could re-rate. If the attention metric fails to translate into consistent advertiser spend, the story loses traction.
The next quarter’s India-specific commentary – or lack of it – will tell traders whether this is a structural shift or a marketing pitch.
For broader context on how digital advertising trends affect tech stocks, see AlphaScala’s stock market analysis.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.