Snapchat reaches 293 million users, revenue up 116% in Q2

Snapchat, the sixth most popular social media platform in Australia, has reached 293 million global daily active users.

The US-based parent company Snap made the announcement when it released its earnings for Q2 2021.

Revenue in the quarter rose 116% to US$982 million.

The growth of daily active users represented a 23% rise YoY (from 238 million) and 5% up from 280 million in April.

Snap’s net loss narrowed to $152 million, from a loss of $326 million a year ago.

The Q2 report did not break out the data into territories, but it did say Snap reached 90% of 13-24-year-olds in Australia, US, UK and France.

A March 2021 study by Social Media Statistics Australia based on Snap figures, noted, “Snapchat has grown significantly in Australia and now have 6.3 million monthly active users and 4.5 million daily active users in Australia”.

It was placed #6 in the rankings. Topping the list was Facebook (17 million monthly active Australian users), then YouTube (16.5 million), Instagram (9 million), WhatsApp (8 million) and LinkedIn (6.5 million).

In the Q2 report, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel revealed that while the number of users was up, time spent watching user-generated content has decreased year-over-year.

He attributed this in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and a decline in the volume of daily posts to users’ stories.

“While it is unclear when these restrictions will end and how user behaviour will evolve, we are seeing stabilisation and early recovery in Story posting as some communities are reopening and reducing restrictions,” Spiegel said.

“We are cautiously optimistic that this will lead to increased time spent watching Stories from friends as the world begins to open up.”

In the third quarter, Snap expects to reach 301 million daily active users and year-over-year revenue to grow 58% to 60%, which would bring the company over the $1 billion mark.

According to Spiegel, Snapchat users open the app 30 times per day on average, and nearly one out of every two smartphones in the US uses Snapchat.