Snapchat has had a rough year so far: the launch of its redesigned app on February 6 resulted in a contentious reception from longtime users and its highly opinionated celebrity fanbase. A single disparaging tweet from Kylie Jenner sent Snap’s stock on a nosedive, ultimately slicing $1.3 billion from its market value. And just last week, Snap announced its largest round of layoffs to date, letting 120 employees go (accounting for 10% of its engineering team).
Is Snapchat Alienating its Users?
Is Snap’s tumultuous 2018 also being reflected in its user numbers and engagement metrics? Verto Analytics took a look at Snapchat’s user numbers and the amount of time they spent per day with the app (among U.S. adults, 18 and above). According to Verto Watch data, Snapchat’s daily user numbers have remained relatively stable over the course of January and February 2018, averaging at just over 21.5 million daily unique users. In fact, the only two major spikes in user numbers align with the season’s biggest holidays: New Year’s Day (27.6 million daily uniques) and Valentine’s Day (28.8 million daily uniques), and do not show any significant drop-off following the February 6 redesign.
A comparison of the average amount of time consumers spent on Snapchat per day shows a bit more daily variation, with an average of almost 18 minutes per day. Interestingly, there’s a slight drop in average amount of time spent immediately following Kylie Jenner’s February 21 tweet, but no discernable decline immediately following the February 6 redesign – in fact, the amount of time that users spent with the app actually increased in the days following February 6.
This Chart of the Week was created using Verto Watch. Interested in the latest insights on audiences profiles and digital properties? Sign up for our newsletter.