Snapchat saw significant growth last quarter, exceeding 200 million daily active users for the first time.
From Q1 to Q2 in 2019, Snapchat gained 13 million daily active users which represent 8% growth.
In total, there are now 203 million people using Snapchat every day.
The company attributes this growth to the popularity of the app’s face filters, as well as investing in a broader set of product features.
In an earnings call, Snapchat estimates that between 7 and 9 million users joined last quarter because of face filters, and 4 to 6 million users joined because of new features.
You can read the full statements from the earnings call here. Below I’ll summarize the two key reasons behind Snapchat’s growth this past quarter.
Why is Snapchat Growing So Fast?
Updated Features
A broader set of features refers to the company’s renewed focus on its Android app, which was lagging behind the iOS app in terms of updates.
Snapchat updated the app and optimized it for the Android operating system. Given that Android is the world’s most used mobile OS, an updated app had the potential to greatly expand its user base.
As today’s numbers prove, that’s exactly what ended up happening. According to CEO Evan Spiegel, Android users are sending 7% more snaps with the new version of Snapchat versus the old version.
Face Filters
In addition to an updated app for Android, Snapchat’s successful quarter can also be credited to a viral face filter.
Snapchat developed a filter that made users look like the opposite gender. Photos created with the filter were shared beyond Snapchat, encouraging people to download the app if they didn’t already have it.
That kind of viral success is hard to maintain. People may have downloaded the app to use the filter with no intention of making it a daily habit.
So we’ll see next quarter how many of those new users Snapchat manages to keep.
