Snap Beats Wall Street Expectations As Revenues And Users Rise
Snapchat owner Snap Inc. reported its third-quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon, beating Wall Street expectations on both revenue and earnings per share. The company reported revenue of $1.2 billion and an EPS of $0.02. Wall Street had been expecting revenue of $1.11 billion and earnings per share of -$0.04. The company also said that its COO, Jerry Hunter, would retire.
The subscription plan, called Snapchat+, comes after the social media company reported a disappointing sales outlook for the current quarter when it reported first-quarter results in April.
Launched in nine countries including the U.S., the paid subscription service could help Snapchat diversify its revenue sources if it turns out to be popular. The Plus plan includes pre-release, experimental and exclusive features such as pinning your close friend as BFF and customizing the app’s icon.
Free Press, Common Cause and a number of other progressive groups and civil rights advocates have called on the biggest social media companies to combat disinformation in the run-up to the midterm elections, the first national election since the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, saying if they don’t, they are “the dominant threat” to the democratic process. That came in the form of letters to the CEOs of Meta, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and Alphabet from more than 100 groups.
The survey found that “a sizable portion” of U.S. adults (48%) say they get news “sometimes” or “often” from social media sites.
Starting on Wednesday, the entertainment news show will expand its reach to the Snapchat Discover audience. Rachel Lindsay, who currently is a correspondent on the syndicated newsmagazine, will run down the headlines on the new platform.
Snapchat has permanently banned President Trump’s account for his “attempts to spread misinformation, hate speech and incite violence,” a company spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap on Wednesday. “Last week we announced an indefinite suspension of President Trump’s Snapchat account, and have been assessing what long term action is in the best interest of our Snapchat community,” a Snapchat spokesperson said in a statement.
Exclusives
Snap Inc. announced Wednesday that it will no longer promote President Trump‘s Snapchat account after concluding that some of his tweets from over the weekend promoted violence. His account will stay up on the social media platform, but will no longer be promoted on the app’s Discover page, according to the company.
Despite the previously unreported sale late last year, NBCU says it’s committed to the Snap relationship, and is producing more programming than ever for the platform.
Snapchat is not just for kids anymore. Ashley Remkus is a crime reporter for AL.com, Alabama’s media group that publishes the state’s three major newspapers. On top of covering crime and safety in the Huntsville area, Remkus is also the “Snapchat guru” for the group.
ESPN’s deeper investment in Snapchat comes as other publishers like the New York Times and Bleacher Report have paused their channels. But for ESPN, producing shows on Snapchat aligns with its digital strategy of meeting sports fans in places they already are. Snapchat also has proven to be a useful way to make revenue and to direct viewers to ESPN on television and to content on ESPN+.
The show, which will be featured on Snapchat Discover during the Golden Globes, will offer regular updates as awards are handed out.
Snap Inc. has pinned its hopes on the over-35 crowd to revive user growth for its photo messaging app, a shift ad buyers say could backfire, warning that wooing older people to Snapchat, known for disappearing messages and cartoon selfie photo filters, could alienate its cult following of youngsters.
With NBCUniversal’s help, the struggling social media giant preps more than a dozen original series for its 188 million users as it muscles into a crowded market.
Snap Inc. on Wednesday announced new scripted shows for its photo messaging app Snapchat that will launch this fall and struck partnerships with Hollywood production companies and writers in hopes of reversing its decline in users.
Stay Tuned – which NBC launched in July 2017 – seems to be proving successful for NBC News in reaching younger news consumers because the network is expanding the daily news show for Snapchat to Instagram and YouTube. The show will air twice daily on Instagram Stories shortly after they post to Snapchat.
Snapchat is partnering with four news discovery platforms to help news organizations better comb through the billions of videos and photos posted daily to the platform. The partners are NewsWhip, Storyful, SAM Desk and TagBoard, and news organizations with subscriptions to them will have full access to publicly-available Snaps.
Snap Inc.’s overhaul of its core app splits the social from the media — but is that enough to survive? Its new design — think Netflix and WhatsApp, not Instagram and Facebook — attempts to help new users and build something Instagram can’t copy.
Snapchat says it generated $100 million in revenue for content partners on Discover in 2017, up from $58 million in 2016 and $10 million in 2015.
In some much-needed good news for Snap, the messaging giant said it added more users than expected during fourth-quarter 2017. From the third quarter to the fourth, Snap’s flagship Snapchat app increased daily active users from 178 million to 187 million.
Since Snapchat launched Shows in August of 2016, a growing number of young journalists have amassed a dedicated legion of followers on the platform. Snapchat users are probably acutely aware of an NBC anchor named Savannah — not the one who hosts the Today show, but Savannah Sellers, a co-host of Stay Tuned..
Snapchat parent Snap Inc. laid off roughly two dozen people across eight different teams on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter. Most of the layoffs were in Snap’s content division, the people said, which includes editors who curate user-submitted videos for breaking news and other events. A handful of employees in New York and London were also asked to relocate to the company’s Los Angeles headquarters. Some layoffs also took place in Snap’s engineering and partnership teams.
Snapchat: New, Original Content ‘Imminent’
CNN has ended its daily newscast designed for Snapchat users just four months after launching it. CNN and Los Angeles-based Snap Inc. said the program, called The Update, failed to generate enough advertising revenue to sustain itself.
How Snapchat Separates Social From Media
The personalized newsfeed revolutionized the way people share and consume content. But let’s be honest: this came at a huge cost to facts, our minds and the entire media industry.
Snapchat has turned to NBCUniversal for help making its first big push into scripted programming. The app’s parent company, Snap Inc., has struck a deal with NBCU to form a joint venture that will develop and produce new shows for Snapchat. The deal comes seven months after NBCU invested $500 million in Snap’s IPO and a little more than a year after the two companies first partnered to produce original programming for the app.
Although most people do not go to Facebook intentionally seeking their news, it’s inevitable that the average user will stumble upon an article. Whether it’s credible or fake, that’s another story. So the value of news stations and journalists using Facebook to reach viewers is obviously invaluable. But what about other non-newsy social media? Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest should not be ignored.
CNN debuted a daily program Monday on Snapchat Shows, a growing roster of short-form video series on the social-media platform. Airing every weekday at 6 p.m. ET, The Update will feature breaking news from the cable network’s reporters exclusive to Snapchat in its signature Shows format. CNN will also offer rolling updates on developing news as part of the program.
NBC News’ twice-daily Snapchat show, Stay Tuned, has garnered more than 29 million unique viewers since launching July 18, the companies announced Friday. The show’s debut came after NBCUniversal invested $500 million in Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, as part of its initial public offering in March.
