Snapchat has cultivated a unique identity as a smartphone-only social network and messaging platform focused around images and videos. The app has emerged as an everyday communication tool for millions of teens and young adults, particularly in the U.S. and Western Europe.
Snapchat launched in September 2011, so it is not even three years old. But as BI Intelligence explained in a recent report, brands stand to gain a lasting advantage from adopting emerging social media early.
In a new report from BI Intelligence, we provide an exclusive estimate of Snapchat's monthly active users, and break down the app's demographics to help brands and businesses decide whether they need to be on Snapchat. The app is definitely emerging as a key medium for targeted marketing and messaging aimed at teens and millennials. The report also spotlights the opportunities ahead, as users embrace new features like "Stories," which are collections of videos and photos that don't self-destruct.
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- Snapchat has significant scale: We estimate it reached 82 million monthly active users globally as of May 2014. That's about one-third Instagram's size.
- The majority of Snapchat's users are female, and 70% are between the ages of 13 and 25, according to our estimates. Young women are a difficult-to-reach and influential demographic.
- Engagement is high: Two-fifths of 18-year-olds in the U.S. use it "multiple times daily" to communicate with family and friends. That's a higher proportion than those saying they use voice calls multiple times daily.
- Visual sharing on Snapchat is exploding. Sharing of Snapchat Stories increased 100% in the last two months. Stories are now getting 1 billion views daily, while 760 million disappearing photos and videos are sent daily.
- Snapchat is more than disappearing photos. It has introduced several marketer-friendly features in the last eight months, including videos known as "Snapchat Stories." The app's users can use Stories to weave together collections of photos and video. Brands, too, have been quick to adopt stories. Like with TV ads, brands can make their stories 30- or 60-seconds long, a comfortable and familiar format for advertisers. Also, Stories don't disappear after a few seconds. They can be watched again and again in a 24-hour period.
- Snapchat does pose disadvantages. It is difficult, though not impossible, to build a large audience on Snapchat. To do so usually requires heavy cross-promotion on other social networks.
We also look at what major brands including Audi, Taco Bell, Grub Hub, Audi, Mashable, McDonald's and streetwear retailer Karmaloop are doing on Snapchat. Also notes usage by publishers like Mashable and institutions like the University Of Michigan.
In full, the report:
- Explains all of Snapchat's new features
- Digs into some of the numbers behind successful brand efforts on Snapchat
- Lists the international markets where Snapchat has become a top app
- Describes the reasons why Snapchat is still an immature marketing platform and may not be an ideal medium for every brand
- Includes 12 charts and datasets that break down Snapchat's demographics, analyzes brand activity, and showcases survey data on how specific audiences use the app
