Snap Inc, the company behind Snapchat, has released financial results which show that the company appears to be bouncing back after a tough couple of years.
Q3 2024 revenues increased 15% year-over-year to $1.37bn while Daily Active Users increased 9% to $443m in the same period. CEO Evan Spiegel said: “Our investments in AI and AR are powering new creative experiences for our community and driving innovation across our advertising platform, underpinning our growth opportunity.”
Among key highlights, Snap said total time spent watching content increased 25% year-over-year, with Spotlight reaching more than 500 million monthly active users on average in Q3 (+21%). Intriguingly, Snapchat+ reached 12 million subscribers in Q3, more than doubling year-over-year, while the number of total active advertisers on the platform more than doubled year-over-year. Investment in AR also continues to be a priority via Snapchat Lenses: “More than 375,000 AR creators, developers, and teams from nearly every country in the world have built over 4 million Lenses,” said the firm. “Over 150 million Spotlight videos have been created this year featuring Lenses.”
In a separate story, Snapchat has been celebrating Halloween 2024, with the return of spooky content series Phantom House (pictured) for a second season of four horror-themed episodes. Filmed to reflect the way the Snapchat community captures its own content, each twisted tale unfolds through Snap Story compilations starring four Snapchat creators — Tue Nguyen, Jake Koehler, Rachel Levin, and Caryn Marjorie.
The four films have been dropped across October in the run up to the holiday. The series is backed by brands including Maybelline, State Farm, and Hulu. Maybelline, for example, integrated branded content into a Phantom House episode, as well as creating custom content, an immersive AR Lens, commercials, and Snap Ads.
