• by Colin Kirkland , August 5, 2024

Since redesigning its ad business and investing in artificial intelligence and exclusive in-app immersive experiences, Snap has seen an increase in users and revenue while trying to boost performance for profits generated via advertising, according to the company’s second-quarter earnings update.

Snapchat added 10 million additional daily active users this quarter, with 423 million total DAUs across the globe -- placing it far ahead of X and right in line with Instagram.

The social-media platform also reported a new high in terms of monthly users, with 850 million.

The company says it saw “all-time highs in the number of daily active users sending Snaps in every region” and reported that time spent watching content in the app across the globe grew 25% year-over-year.

New users in markets outside of the EU and U.S. -- Snapchat's most lucrative markets – are increasing the company's overall earnings potential.

The company generated $1.24 billion for the second quarter, with the “rest of the world” category now surpassing Europe in revenue intake.

Snap is spending more on infrastructure, advertising, and promotion in attempts to attract more U.S. advertisers to the platform and building more adept AI models to both increase ad performance and expand its augmented reality (AR) effects offerings, like Scribble World, the company's Gen AI lens.

According to the report, Snap has also added around 3 million subscribers to its Snapchat+ service since April.

Now, the company boasts 11 million paying subscribers total, outperforming verification-based paid services launched by Facebook and X, but still lagging behind longtime premium services from LinkedIn and YouTube.

Snap started its paid subscription offering in 2022 with six exclusive experiences. Two years later, subscribers have access to over 40 features, including chat wallpapers, custom app icons, AI bitmoji pets, as well as first-looks at now-free features like Snapchat for Web and My AI.