Snap Inc. Records Strong Q1 Revenues, User Growth

Snap Inc. just reported strong revenue and user growth during the first quarter. Snap saw quarterly revenue rise to $462 million, which represented a 44% increase, year-over-year.

During the same period, daily active users rose by about 20% to 229 million.

Rather than tout his company’s performance, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel struck a humble tone on Tuesday. “We are grateful for the opportunity to serve our community and partners during this difficult time,” Spiegel said.

Spiegel also said how proud he was of Snap’s employees for persevering through the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis.

In part, analysts attributed Snap’s strong user growth to the health crisis, which has led to a massive demand for digital content and virtual communication.

“Some of the boost likely came in March, when the coronavirus pandemic forced millions of people around the world to shelter at home,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst.

Yet, Snap’s strong revenue performance was less expected, according to Williamson.

“Snap’s revenue picture was much brighter than many analysts expected, considering the global pandemic hit ad budgets hard toward the end of the quarter,” she said. “If advertisers did cut budgets for Snapchat advertising, they may not have done so in large numbers before the end of the quarter.”

During the first quarter, total daily time spent by users watching Discover content increased by over 35%, year-over-year.

Snap’s other original content efforts performed well, during the period.

For example, total daily time spent by users watching Snap Shows more than doubled, year-over-year.

In the first quarter, over 60 shows reached a monthly audience of more than 10 million viewers -- up from 50 shows during the fourth quarter of 2019.

Additionally, more than 20 million users watched the company’s new Snap original “Nikita Unfiltered” since its launch at the beginning of March.

 

Next story loading loading..