During the second quarter, Snapchat’s daily active users increased 17% to 238 million, year-over-year, while revenue was up 17% to $454 million during the same period.  

Despite those gains, Snapchat parent Snap still saw its net loss increase from $255 million to $326 million over the period.

Snap cofounder/CEO Evan Spiegel blamed the increasing losses on the pandemic, which has led many advertisers to rein in their social-media budgets.

“This has been an extremely challenging time,” Spiegel told investors during an earnings call on Tuesday.

Derek Anderson, Snap’s Chief Financial Officer, echoed Spiegel’s sentiment on the call.

“The operating environment has remained challenging as COVID-19 continues to impact macroeconomic conditions, and the businesses of our advertising clients,” Anderson said. “Many of our advertisers have seen interruptions in their businesses, especially those that rely on in-person interaction with their customers, such as restaurants, entertainment venues, transportation services, physical retailers, and hospitality providers among others.”

“In addition, many advertisers paused spending for periods of time during the quarter in order to swap out their ad creative for messaging that was more appropriate for the given moment,” Anderson added. “These challenging circumstances interrupted otherwise robust momentum in our self-serve platform.”

According to Spiegel, Snap remains laser-focused on AR, entertainment and commerce.

Just recently, Snap unveiled “The Drop” -- its first-ever “shoppable” show, which will feature exclusive streetwear collaborations from celebrities and designers.

Scheduled to launch later in the year, the unscripted show’s episodes will invite viewers to “swipe up to buy” products, many of which will be teased as limited in quantity.

Jeremi Gorman, Snap’s Chief Business Officer, said the company was also focused on growing demand through better service of its ad partners.

“We continue to hire talented sales professionals to build out and improve our verticalized coverage that serves many advertisers across the globe,” Gorman said.

Although Snap has not able to host in-person meetings with advertising partners, its teams have pivoted efforts to “virtual” industry education.