News that Snapchat's userbase is stabilising, as revealed in its latest Q4 earnings report, has sent Snap stock soaring more than 20%.
User numbers for the period remained flat at 186 million daily users - after falling from 191 million in Q1 to 188 million in Q2, they have now landed at 186 million in Q3.
This exceeded the predicted quarterly count of 184.2 million users. 186 million is down 0.3% year-on-year.
The news eases market worries that Snapchat is losing users to rivals and led to its share price jumping 22% to $8.62 shortly after.
The photo-messaging app has struggled since going public in March 2017, as Instagram has replicated many of its novel features. A controversial redesign also alienated some of Snapchat’s advertisers and users.
Speaking to AdNews in our upcoming Meet The Team (subscribe here to see it first) local GM Kathryn Carter tells AdNews that "imitation is the greatest form of flattery".
Snap reached record revenues of US$390 million in the Q4, up 36% year-on-year to beat the US$378 million Wall Street estimate.
The financial results were partly driven by the early success of Snapchat's new ad formats, such as unskippable ads, the company reports.
Snap is now “substantially closer” to profitability, according to CEO Evan Spiegel, as it maintains a flat cost structure while increasing revenue.
In an internal memo that leaked in October, Spiegel set a goal of reaching profitability by the end of 2019.
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