Snapchat Passes 60 Million Daily Users In The U.S. And Canada
Snapchat, the messaging app that originally took off as a tool for sending disappearing photos, now has more than 60 million daily active users in the U.S. and Canada — about a third of Facebook’s 175 million daily users in the same region.
Snap Inc.’s Chief strategy officer, Imran Khan, announced the stat during Advertising Week in New York. Together, the U.S. and Canada are the world’s largest advertising market. In the U.S. and Canada, Facebook’s average revenue per user is $12.43, nearly four times its global average, $3.32. For Twitter, the U.S. is also paramount. The San Francisco, Calif.-based company does not break down revenue for Canada. However, Twitter reported it made nearly 60% of its second quarter advertising revenue in the U.S. alone. Twitter does not share daily user metrics, but most recently said it has 66 million monthly U.S. users.
Snapchat, which has 150 million daily active users globally, most recently closed a $1.8 billion funding round in May, when investors valued the company at about $18 billion. The company is forecast to reach nearly $1 billion in global advertising sales in 2017, up from an estimated $366.7 million in revenue this year, according to a recent report by forecasting firm eMarketer. By comparison, eMarketer estimates that Facebook-owned Instagram, with 500 million monthly users, will generate $1.5 billion in global ad sales this year and $2.8 billion in 2017.
Snap Inc. launched its ad business in mid-2015. The company sells full-screen, vertical video ads in its “Discover” and “Stories” sections, which play with sound after users click them. Snapchat’s Discover section, which features articles and video from more than a dozen publishers such as CNN, iHeart Radio and Cosmopolitan, generates nearly half of the company’s total U.S. ad revenue, according to eMarketer. Snap Inc. also sells geofilters and lenses.
On Friday, the Venice, California-based company unveiled its first hardware, $129.99 video-capturing sunglasses, and renamed itself as “Snap Inc.” to reflect its new direction.