Snapchat Ads & Media Asset Catalog Scraper

Snapchat Ads Scraper — Media Asset Catalog

Snapchat Ads & Media Asset Catalog Scraper turns the public Snapchat Ads Library into a downloadable media-asset catalog — every ad enriched with a ready-to-download filename, media kind, file extension, and an optional live reachability check on the actual download URL, plus per-advertiser asset-count summary rows. It's built for creative and competitive intelligence teams building a swipe file of competitor ad creative, ad-ops teams verifying media links are actually live before archiving them, and market researchers who want a per-advertiser breakdown of how much video versus image creative a brand is running. No Snapchat account is required. Every section below documents an input, an output field, or exactly how the media enrichment and reachability check work.

What is Snapchat Ads & Media Asset Catalog Scraper?

This Actor searches Snapchat's public Ads Library by advertiser/brand keyword, paginating through Snapchat's own cursor-based feed, and for every ad computes a downloadable-asset record — a suggested filename, the media kind (video/image), the file extension, and (optionally) a live HEAD-request check confirming the download link actually resolves.

Key capabilities, read from the source:

• Real media enrichment computed from actual ad data. compute_media_fields() derives mediaAvailable, mediaKind, mediaExtension, and suggestedFilename from the ad's own snapMediaDownloadLink/snapMediaType fields — nothing here is guessed when the underlying media link is absent.
• Optional live reachability verification. validateMedia sends a lightweight HEAD request to each ad's media download URL and records mediaUrlReachable (true/false) and the real mediaContentType response header — when disabled, both fields are explicitly null rather than left implying "checked and clean."
• Per-advertiser asset-count summaries that reflect every ad seen, not just kept ones. A recordType: "asset_summary" row per advertiser tallies adsTotal, adsWithMedia, videoAssets, and imageAssets — counted across every ad the search encountered, even ones filtered out of the ad rows by onlyWithMedia.
• A downloadable-only default filter. onlyWithMedia (on by default) keeps only ads that carry a real downloadable media asset in the ad-row output — useful since not every ad in the library has a directly downloadable creative asset.
• Proxy escalation that sticks once engaged. The proxy manager starts direct, escalates to datacenter then residential on a rate-limit challenge, and stays on residential for the remainder of the run once reached.
• Bulk multi-advertiser search in one run. searchQueries accepts multiple brand names processed independently, or a single empty string to fetch all ads in the library filtered only by country/date/status.

What data can I extract with Snapchat Ads & Media Asset Catalog Scraper?

Every field below is read directly from extract_ads() and compute_media_fields() in the source — the dataset's default view surfaces all 27 as table columns.

Ad rows (recordType: "ad")

Field	Example Value	Notes
id / adName / adType	ad identifiers
payingAdName / accountName / brandName / profileName / profileLogoUrl	advertiser identity
headline	ad copy
totalImpressions / adStatus / startDate	reach and delivery info
snapMediaDownloadLink / snapMediaType	raw media reference	Snapchat's own fields
mediaAvailable	true	Whether a downloadable asset exists at all
mediaKind	"video" or "image"	Derived from snapMediaType
mediaExtension / suggestedFilename	"mp4" / "ikea_ad_abc123.mp4"	Computed, ready-to-use for a download step
mediaUrlReachable	true or null	null when validateMedia is off — never guessed
mediaContentType	"video/mp4"	Real HTTP response header from the HEAD check

Asset summary rows (recordType: "asset_summary")

Field	Example Value	Notes
advertiserName / searchQuery	grouping keys
adsTotal	24	Every ad seen for this advertiser, regardless of filters
adsWithMedia	19	How many carried a downloadable asset
videoAssets / imageAssets	12 / 7	Split by media kind

Why not build this yourself?

The Snapchat Ads Library has no public API for programmatic bulk access — reaching it means replicating its internal cursor-paginated search endpoint and its exact request-body shape for country/status/date filtering, none of which is documented externally. Confirming that a media download link is genuinely still live requires an actual HEAD request per asset, since Snapchat's search response includes the link regardless of whether the underlying asset has since expired or moved — skipping that check means building a "catalog" that silently includes dead links. This Actor performs that verification and is explicit — via a null rather than a guessed true/false — whenever the check wasn't requested.

How to use data extracted from Snapchat Ads & Media Asset Catalog Scraper?

Creative and competitive intelligence

Search a competitor's brand name with onlyWithMedia on to build a downloadable swipe file of their active ad creative, using mediaKind to separate video from image assets for a format-specific creative review.

Ad-ops link verification

Turn on validateMedia before archiving a batch of ad assets to catch dead download links (mediaUrlReachable: false) before they end up in a broken asset library.

Market and category research

Run several brand names in one searchQueries batch and compare each advertiser's asset_summary row to see who's running the most video-heavy creative strategy in a category.

AI agents and creative pipelines

Because suggestedFilename and mediaExtension are pre-computed, an agent can pass snapMediaDownloadLink directly to a download step without any additional filename logic.

🔼 Input sample

Parameter	Required	Type	Description	Example Value
searchQueries	Yes	array	Advertiser/brand names to search. An empty string fetches all ads.	["Ikea"]
maxItems	No	integer (1–10000)	Max ads to fetch per search keyword. Default 10.	50
country	No	string enum	Restrict to one EU country. Empty = all countries.	"DE"
status	No	string enum	"" (any), ACTIVE, or PAUSED.	"ACTIVE"
startDate / endDate	No	string (date)	Only ads with a start date in this range (YYYY-MM-DD).	"2026-01-01"
onlyWithMedia	No	boolean	Keep only ads with a downloadable asset in ad rows. Summary rows always count everything. Default true.	true
validateMedia	No	boolean	Live HEAD-check each media URL. Default true.	true
proxyConfiguration	No	object	Starts direct; escalates to datacenter then sticky residential automatically.	{"useApifyProxy": false}

{
  "searchQueries": ["Ikea", "Nike"],
  "maxItems": 25,
  "onlyWithMedia": true,
  "validateMedia": true
}

Common pitfall: onlyWithMedia only filters the ad rows — the per-advertiser asset_summary rows always tally every ad seen, including ones with no media, so adsTotal on a summary row can legitimately exceed the number of ad rows you actually received for that advertiser.

🔽 Output sample

Output is one JSON row per ad, plus one summary row per advertiser, pushed to the run's default dataset and charged as one row_result event per row.

{
  "recordType": "ad",
  "searchQuery": "Ikea",
  "id": "abc123",
  "adName": "Summer Collection 2026",
  "adType": "SNAP_AD",
  "brandName": "IKEA",
  "headline": "New arrivals for your home",
  "totalImpressions": 1250000,
  "adStatus": "ACTIVE",
  "snapMediaDownloadLink": "https://ads.snapchat.com/media/abc123.mp4",
  "snapMediaType": "VIDEO",
  "startDate": "2026-06-01",
  "mediaAvailable": true,
  "mediaKind": "video",
  "mediaExtension": "mp4",
  "suggestedFilename": "ikea_summer_collection_2026_abc123.mp4",
  "mediaUrlReachable": true,
  "mediaContentType": "video/mp4"
}

An asset summary row:

{
  "recordType": "asset_summary",
  "searchQuery": "Ikea",
  "advertiserName": "IKEA",
  "adsTotal": 24,
  "adsWithMedia": 19,
  "videoAssets": 12,
  "imageAssets": 7
}

How do you filter and target specific ads and assets?

Scope by country and date for regional creative audits. country plus startDate/endDate together narrow a search to a specific EU market's ad activity within a window — useful for a regional launch review rather than a global creative sweep.

Status filter separates live from historical creative. status: "ACTIVE" focuses a catalog on what's currently running; leave it on Any to include paused ads for a fuller historical archive.

Verification is worth the extra requests before archiving. Keep validateMedia on for any run whose output will feed a download step — the extra HEAD request per asset is cheap insurance against building a catalog full of dead links.

Three real examples:

{ "searchQueries": ["Nike"], "country": "DE", "status": "ACTIVE", "maxItems": 50 }

Active-only creative audit for one brand in Germany.

{ "searchQueries": ["Ikea", "Wayfair", "Article"], "onlyWithMedia": true, "maxItems": 30 }

Multi-advertiser furniture-category creative comparison.

{ "searchQueries": [""], "status": "ACTIVE", "startDate": "2026-06-01", "maxItems": 200 }

Broad library sweep of all currently-active ads since a given date.

▶️ Want to try other scrapers?

Scraper	What it extracts
Snapchat Profile Scraper — Spotlight & Transcripts	Public profile Spotlight content with transcripts
TikTok Video Scraper — Hashtag, Sound & Reach	Video-level reach and sound data
Instagram Reels Hashtag Scraper	Reels-only hashtag content with audio metadata
Google Search Autocomplete API	Keyword suggestion expansion

How to extract Snapchat ads data programmatically

This Actor runs as a standard Apify Actor call — one API call in, structured JSON dataset out, using your Apify API token.

Python example

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("<YOUR_USERNAME>/snapchat-ads-media-asset-catalog").call(run_input={
    "searchQueries": ["Ikea"],
    "onlyWithMedia": True,
    "validateMedia": True,
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    if item.get("recordType") == "ad" and item.get("mediaUrlReachable"):
        print(item["suggestedFilename"], item["snapMediaDownloadLink"])

Export to spreadsheets or CRM

Every dataset supports one-click CSV/Excel export from the Apify Console. Filter on recordType to separate ad rows from advertiser summary rows before exporting.

Is it legal to scrape the Snapchat Ads Library?

Scraping the Snapchat Ads Library is generally lawful, since Snapchat itself publishes this ad-transparency data publicly for anyone to view without logging in — most major ad platforms maintain a public ads library specifically for transparency purposes. Downloaded ad creative remains the advertiser's copyrighted material, so use it for research, competitive analysis, or archival purposes rather than redistribution, and consult legal counsel for commercial applications involving reuse of the creative assets themselves.

❓ FAQ

Does onlyWithMedia affect the summary rows too?

No — asset_summary rows always tally every ad the search encountered (adsTotal), regardless of whether onlyWithMedia filtered that specific ad out of the ad-row output. Use the summary rows when you need a true total count.

What does mediaUrlReachable actually verify?

A live HEAD request to the ad's snapMediaDownloadLink, confirming the URL currently resolves and capturing its real Content-Type header. It's null (not false) when validateMedia is off, so you can distinguish "not checked" from "checked and dead."

Can I fetch every ad in the library without a specific brand?

Yes — include a single empty string in searchQueries to fetch all ads, filtered only by whatever country/status/date range you set.

Why would an ad have no downloadable media?

Not every ad format in the Snapchat Ads Library carries a directly downloadable creative asset — mediaAvailable: false reflects that honestly rather than fabricating a placeholder link.

Does this require a Snapchat account or API key?

No — it scrapes the Snapchat Ads Library's public search interface directly; no login or API key is needed.

How does this compare to other ad-library scrapers?

As observed on the Apify Store on 2026-07-26, memo23/google-ad-transparency-scraper-cheerio covers a comparable ad-transparency use case for a different platform (Google), and apify/social-media-leads-analyzer focuses on lead analysis rather than creative-asset cataloging — neither documents a live media-reachability check like this Actor's validateMedia.

Does this work with AI agent frameworks?

Yes — call it as a standard HTTP endpoint via the Apify API from any agent framework capable of making an API call; there's no MCP-specific integration for this Actor.

Conclusion

Snapchat Ads & Media Asset Catalog Scraper turns a brand search into a downloadable creative catalog — real media classification, a live reachability check before you rely on a download link, and per-advertiser asset summaries. It fits creative intelligence, ad-ops link verification, and category-level creative research. Start a run from the Apify Console or the Apify API with your target advertiser names to get your first media catalog.