Snapchat is an image and video messaging app, developed by Stanford University students Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown in 2011.
Its unique selling point was that photos and videos sent to friends would only be viewable for a set duration of 1 to 10 seconds, although Snapchat has removed these limitations.
A number of additional features have also been added, the first of which was Stories. This allowed users to post photos and videos to a feed for 24 hours. The feature was notoriously cloned by Facebook’s Instagram.
Memories, launched in 2016, was another step towards saving images for longer. When an image is saved or uploaded to Stories, the user is reminded of the event a year later.
Part of the reason for adding new features was to find ways of generating revenue. In 2014, Snapchat only made $3.4 million revenue, while losing over $500 million a year. It added mobile payments in 2015 in the United States, in a partnership with Square.
It also debuted augmented reality glasses, known as Spectacles, in 2016. While the debut received significant media attention, the glasses never caught on with the wider public, but Snapchat relaunched them once and aims to be a big part of the growing AR industry.
Snapchat has added original video series to the app, in the form of Snapchat Originals. ABC, BBC, Buzzfeed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and NBCUniversal have all been tied to Snapchat Originals, although only a few have launched since it debuted in 2018.
The search for new forms of social interaction came as Snapchat’s growth started to stagnate, with daily active users decreasing from 191 million in Q1 2018 to 186 million in Q4 2018. This sent the company’s stock tanking, from a high of $27.09 at IPO in 2017 to $4.92 on 21 December, 2018.
It started to see some recovery when its usage increased, especially in other parts of the world such as India, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
That said, early projections of Snapchat as the app to take on Facebook seem very unlikely. Snapchat has found a market, especially in teenagers, but has struggled to win over older users and is far behind Facebook on the revenue generation front. Augmented reality may change that however, a field Snapchat has devoted a lot of resources into.
We have collected data and statistics on Snapchat. Read on below to find out more.
Snapchat key statistics
- Snapchat generated $4.1 billion revenue in 2021, a 63% increase year-on-year
- Snapchat has not recorded an annual profit, it made a loss of $488 million in 2021
- Over 332 million people use Snapchat daily, 26% are based in the US
- Snapchat stock value increased by over 350% from 2020 to 2021, but has since declined by 57%
Social App Report 2022
Want to learn more about the most popular social apps? Our Social App report includes financials, usage, demographics and benchmarks on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
Snapchat overview
| Title1 | Title2 |
|---|---|
| Launch date | 8 July 2011 |
| HQ | Santa Monica, California |
| People | Evan Spiegel (CEO, co-founder), Bobby Murphy (CTO, co-founder) |
| Business type | Public (NYSE: SNAP) |
| Industry | Social |
Snapchat revenue
Snapchat revenue increased by 63% in 2021 to $4.1 billion, with $1.5 billion generated in the fourth quarter. Annual percentage revenue growth increased in 2021.
Snapchat quarterly revenue 2015 to 2022 ($mm)
Snapchat annual revenue 2015 to 2021 ($bn)
| Year | Revenue ($bn) |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 0.05 |
| 2016 | 0.4 |
| 2017 | 0.8 |
| 2018 | 1.1 |
| 2019 | 1.7 |
| 2020 | 2.5 |
| 2021 | 4.1 |
Source: Company data, Social App Report
Snapchat profit
Snapchat has never recorded an annual net profit, although it has seen losses decline for three years in a row. In Q4 2021, it reported its first quarterly net profit.
Snapchat annual net loss 2015 to 2021 ($mm)
| Year | Net income / loss ($mm) |
|---|---|
| 2015 | -370 |
| 2016 | -514 |
| 2017 | -1175 |
| 2018 | -1254 |
| 2019 | -1032 |
| 2020 | -945 |
| 2021 | -489 |
Source: Company data, Social App Report
Snapchat users
Snapchat reversed its user stagnation in 2019 and has continued to add users every quarter since, although the majority of new users are from outside the US.
Snapchat quarterly daily active users 2014 to 2022 (mm)
Snapchat annual users 2014 to 2021 (mm)
| Year | Users (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 57 |
| 2015 | 86 |
| 2016 | 143 |
| 2017 | 173 |
| 2018 | 188 |
| 2019 | 203 |
| 2020 | 238 |
| 2021 | 293 |
Note: Values are daily active users in Q2 of each year. Source: Company data
Snapchat users by region
In 2021, Snapchat users from the rest of the world (primarily India) surpassed US users. There were 120 million recorded users in the rest of the world in 2021.
Snapchat users by region 2014 to 2021 (mm)
| Year | North America | Europe | Rest of World |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 30 | 18 | 9 |
| 2015 | 40 | 29 | 18 |
| 2016 | 61 | 46 | 36 |
| 2017 | 75 | 57 | 42 |
| 2018 | 80 | 61 | 47 |
| 2019 | 83 | 64 | 56 |
| 2020 | 90 | 71 | 77 |
| 2021 | 95 | 78 | 120 |
Note: Europe includes Russia and Turkey. Source: Company data
Snapchat users by country
As mentioned above, people from India make up about 33% of all Snapchat users. The app is very popular in France, with 24 million people using it.
Snapchat users by country 2021 (mm)
| Country | Users (mm) |
|---|---|
| India | 106 |
| United States | 88 |
| France | 24 |
| United Kingdom | 21 |
| Saudi Arabia | 20 |
| Pakistan | 17 |
| Mexico | 16 |
| Germany | 14 |
| Iraq | 12 |
| Egypt | 12 |
| Turkey | 10 |
Note: Values as of January 2021. Sources: Hootsuite, We Are Social
Snapchat valuation
Snapchat was valued at $25.5 billion at IPO in 2017, but dropped to $16.1 billion value by 2019. In 2021, the company’s market cap shot up more than 350% to $90.9 billion, it has since dropped back down to $38.3 billion.
Snapchat valuation 2013 to 2022 ($bn)
| Year | Valuation ($bn) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 0.8 |
| 2014 | 10 |
| 2015 | 14.8 |
| 2016 | 17.5 |
| 2017 (IPO) | 25.5 |
| 2018 | 18.5 |
| 2019 | 16.1 |
| 2020 | 19.4 |
| 2021 | 90.9 |
| 2022 | 38.3 |
Note: All valuations post-IPO were taken on April of their respective year. Sources: Crunchbase, Yahoo Finance
Snapchat users vs competitors
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Snapchat FAQ
How long does the average Snapchat user spend the on the app?
The average Snapchat user spends 30 minutes on the app, according to Snapchat. Previous estimates range from 27 to 50 minutes
How many people have used Spotlight on Snapchat?
In March 2021, 125 million Snapchat users used Spotlight
How often do Snapchat users open the app per day?
In 2019, users opened Snapchat 30 times a day on average (TechCrunch)
How many snaps are sent a day?
In 2020, four billions photos were sent on Snapchat on average everyday
What are the age demographics of Snapchat?
61 percent of Snapchat users are female (Hootsuite, We Are Social)
How many lenses have been created on Snapchat?
Over one million lenses have been created as of Q1 2021
What percentage of US teens use Snapchat?
82 percent of US teens use Snapchat once a month and 36 percent say it is there favourite social platform (Marketing Charts)
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