Snapchat adds 70 lakh new users, revenue goes up 50% in Q3 2019

Snapchat announced its quarterly results for the period July - October 2019. While the overall revenue of Snapchat increased to $446 million in the 3rd quarter this year recording 50 per cent YoY (year-over-year) growth, average revenue per user saw a 33 per cent year-over-year boost to $2.12.

Snapchat 'Discover' continues to see expansion

Snapchat is betting heavily on fresh, original content delivered to users through its 'Discover' tab. The social media company said it aims to focus on building a sustainable premium content ecosystem. The app also generated significantly improved user engagement while total daily time spent by users watching Discover increased 40 per cent year-over-year. Snapchat also said over 100 Discover channels reached a monthly audience of over 10 million viewers this quarter. More than 50 new Discover channels internationally across eight markets were added while time spent on premium content globally increased by more than 55 per cent year-over-over.

"Our new horror-thriller Snap Original “Dead of Night” has reached over 14 million unique viewers since its premiere in September," the company said in its presentation slides.

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Focus on augmented reality, gaming

The company said it continues to invest in the augmented reality platform. At the end of Q3 2019, Snap said more than 600,000 Lenses had been created by users through Lens Studio. It also said more than 15 per cent of these Lenses are created using Lens Studio while 'top-performing' Community Lenses reach of billions of views on Snapchat. In Q3 2019, Snap partnered with SYBO Games to launch Subway Surfers Airtime multiplayer game exclusively on Snapchat.

In September, Snap said more than 100 million users interacted with Snaps, courtesy of Snap Kit platform that allows third-party developers to integrate Snapchat features with other platforms. Snap said it doubled the number of apps integrated with Snap Kit since Q1 2019. The company also announced Dynamic Ads to let advertisers create real-time ads based on products across hundreds of thousands of categories.

"We announced that advertisers can now add swipe actions to their Commercials campaigns, allowing Snapchatters to swipe up to access a web page, view a long-form video, or view a Lens. The maximum duration of Snap Ads has been extended to enable advertisers to tell more detailed brand stories through our video ad products," the company said.

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