Snapchat ran with the proverbial bulls! After the much anticipated IPO, Snapchat’s parent company Snap, Inc. (NYSE Ticker: SNAP) stock closed its inaugural trading day at $24.48, well above its IPO price of $17. To financial pundits, this price bump wasn’t particularly startling. The more vital question looming – is the stock closer to resembling Facebook (IPO priced $38; currently trades $136+) or Twitter (IPO priced at $26; now trading below $16). Only time will tell, but for today, here are some fundamentals comparing Snapchat against a market rival, Instagram. The data is based on AppOptix consumer panel’s observation of each company’s app over the past year.
Who has better engagement?
Over the trailing eight months, consumers consistently use Snapchat more frequently compared to Instagram, with a delta of 4% between the apps -- Snapchat averaging 37% daily engagement vs. Instagram’s 33%.
Source: AppOptix, Strategy Analytics
However, when it comes to average daily touches (or sessions), consumers open Snapchat roughly 40% greater than Instagram over the prior eight months, with the gap between the two diminishing in early 2017. In February 2017, Instagram’s daily sessions were 8.9 with Snapchat at 11.5.
Source: AppOptix, Strategy Analytics
However, one potential area of concern for Snapchat is session length. Over the past eight months, Instagram users spent an average of 15.5 minutes vs. Snapchat’s 14 minutes per day on the app.
Source: AppOptix, Strategy Analytics
Snapchat Use Grows among GenX and Baby Boomers
The popularity of Snapchat among the less than 25 age group is well documented. The surprise is the recent growth in the GenX and Baby Boomer population, with these two groups accounting for almost 40% of total viewing times in a day.
Buy, sell, or hold?
As I’m not in the equities business, thus any recommendation on Snapchat is purely conjecture. We will, however, monitor use levels as the company fights for precious eyeballs in this very competitive space.
The above data is sourced by Strategy Analytics’ AppOptix platform. Additional information on the AppOptix is found here.