Snapchat’s popularity is surging amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as the platform saw 11 million new users in the first quarter of 2020.
This is a significant increase compared to last year, when the app only experienced an increase of eight million users. The new user base puts the company ahead of its expected growth for the year.
Snapchat now has 229 million daily users, which is a 20 percent increase from 2019. Similar to other social media platforms’ recent growth, Snapchat’s increase in users can be partially attributed to the pandemic.
The platform says that communication through the app increased by over 30 percent in the last week of March compared to the last week of January. In some of Snapchat’s larger markets, communication increased by more than 50 percent.
However, Snapchat says that not all of its growth can be attributed to the pandemic, and notes that it was already on pace to accelerate year-over-year growth in daily active users.
Although both Facebook and Twitter have said that COVID-19 impacts are going to negatively affect Q1 advertising revenue, Snapchat reported a strong 44 percent increase in revenue for the quarter. The platform’s revenue grew to $462 million USD (about $654 million CAD).
The company’s says that its ‘Discover’ page, which features original content like Bitmoji Stories and news, is popular among Gen Z users.
Snapchat has made some changes to its platform, like introducing Bitmoji TV, to garner more users and keep those who may be shifting to other popular platforms like TikTok.
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