Snapchat’s social media app is adding users at a faster clip, reaching more than 750 million per month, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said.
That’s 25% more than the 600 million monthly users the app, known for its disappearing photo messages, was attracting 10 months ago. For the year through April 2022, the monthly count rose 20%, the company said.
Spiegel announced the numbers Thursday to an audience of investors at a meeting in Santa Monica, California. Those investors will be listening for signs that the company’s plan to shift its strategy is paying off. Snap last year said it was scaling back operations and narrowing its focus to three priorities: adding users and getting them to spend more time on Snapchat; jump-starting revenue growth; and investing in augmented reality technology.
The numbers disclosed on Thursday signal that the app can continue to expand its user base, which may help counter major declines in its digital ad business. In the first quarter, analysts expect the company’s revenue to post the first-ever drop from a year earlier, while the amount of money Snap makes per user is projected to fall to the lowest in almost three years.
The company has already said that the slide in digital marketing spending that’s hurt the industry for the past year is leveling off. Meanwhile, Snap is making changes to its ad offerings this year that may drag on revenue in the first quarter.
While Snapchat isn’t the biggest social media app — Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook and Instagram see about 3 billion and 2 billion users a month, respectively — it’s known for being especially popular among young people. In recent years, its been competing for the attention of younger users with TikTok, the fast-growing video app owned by ByteDance Ltd., which has more than 1 billion people logging in every month. — Alex Barinka and Aisha Counts, (c) 2023 Bloomberg LP