Snap hires a Google Ad executive to assist with ad performance.

Snap Inc, the parent company of the popular photo messaging app Snapchat, recently made a significant hire to improve its digital advertising performance. Darshan Kantak, a former Google executive who previously led product management for search ads at Alphabet Inc., joined Snap as senior vice president of revenue products. Kantak's appointment is part of Snap's effort to rebuild its ad sales team and enhance its advertising capabilities to compete with other social media giants like Facebook and Instagram.
Snap's move to hire Kantak comes at a crucial time for the company as it faces declining advertising demand, which it expects to impact its Q1 revenue. This decline is partly due to the high inflation rates and concerns about the economy that have led some advertisers to cut their marketing budgets. However, Snap is also looking to improve how its Snapchat ads can lead to product sales, which is a key metric that advertisers consider when measuring the effectiveness of their campaigns.
Kantak's responsibilities will include leading the teams in charge of developing ad forms as well as increasing the measurement and optimization of the success of Snapchat ads. One of the challenges he faces is dealing with the privacy changes that Apple implemented on iPhones in 2021. These changes made it harder for apps to measure how their ads can lead to website visits or sales, and Snap has been no exception to this problem.

Snap's hiring of Kantak, alongside the recent hire of Rob Wilk, a longtime Microsoft ad executive, to lead ad sales in the Americas region, shows that the company is making a concerted effort to bolster its ad sales capabilities. Snap will undoubtedly be hoping that these hires will help boost its revenue growth and make it more competitive with other social media platforms. As Kantak settles into his new role, it will be interesting to see what innovative approaches he takes to improve Snap's digital advertising performance.
Snap's decision to hire Darshan Kantak is a significant step in its efforts to improve its digital advertising performance and compete with other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. As a former Google executive who led product management for search ads at Alphabet Inc., Kantak brings extensive experience and expertise to Snap's ad sales team.