Snapchat is on the rise again
After several months of sluggish performance, the online service Snapchat has seen its business grow again. In the past quarter, its parent company, Snap, reported a year-over-year increase in revenue of five percent to $1.19 billion.
Below the line, however, there were again in the red: The loss widened to 368.26 million dollars from 359.5 million dollars a year earlier, as Snap announced after U.S. stock market close on Tuesday. The number of daily active users rose from 397 to 406 million within three months.
Snap, which once reported rapid growth quarter after quarter, has been hit hard this year by the general downturn in online advertising due to economic concerns. The first half of the year saw revenue declines - and Snap originally forecast a contraction in revenue for the past quarter as well.
In addition, Apple's measures to better protect privacy on the iPhone upset the ad models of many apps. App developers like Snap have to ask users for permission to track their behavior across services and websites for advertising purposes. Many refuse to do so. One consequence is that apps can't measure the success of ad campaigns as accurately as they used to - and Snap couldn't get a handle on the problem for a long time, despite new tools for advertisers.
Snapchat originally gained notoriety for photos that disappeared on their own, but has since greatly expanded its features. (sda)
