10 Snapchat Statistics You Need to Know in 2021 [Infographic]

In the age of timelines and permanence, Snapchat offers a fresh and unique way of interacting with others. Where the norm was to have platforms where everything is saved and stored for later, Snapchat had something else in mind. 

Snapchat was quick to rise to fame, especially among the younger generation. Part of this success can be linked to Snapchat having something new to offer to its users. Snapchat has been a real pioneer in bringing augmented reality to its users through filters and interactive lenses. Notably, Snapchat had Stories before Instagram and Facebook. You could say Snapchat had Stories before it was cool. 

Snapchat is an image and video messaging app, which was developed by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown in 2011. The app allows you to share multimedia messages that will “self-destruct” in up to 10 seconds.

When it comes to communication style, Snapchat mirrors how people interact with each other face-to-face. The interactions are temporary, and not stored anywhere, much like real life. This enables users to share photos and videos that last a short time before they disappear forever- leaving no history that can come back to embarrass them later. 

And it wasn’t long before Snapchat caught the attention of brands and marketers. With the potential to reach out to younger audiences, Snapchat is a great platform if your target market consists of millennials and Gen Z’ers. 

These Snapchat statistics will help you understand where Snapchat currently stands and how profitable it could be for your business. 

So, let’s dive into the top 10 Snapchat statistics that you need to know about in 2019. 

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1. How Many People Use Snapchat?

Snapchat currently has 265 million daily active users worldwide. That’s a 22 percent year-over-year increase from the 218 million it had the previous year (Snap Inc., 2021). 

Incidentally, this is also the fastest year-over-year growth rate the social media app has registered in over a year.

This is thanks to record growth in the number of Snapchat users outside of North America and Europe.

In fact, up until Q3 2020, the majority of Snapchat users were from North America. There were 90 million users in North America, compared to 72 million in Europe and 87 in the rest of the world.

However, the number of Snapchat users outside of Europe and North America has been growing much faster than in these two regions.

In Q4 2020, the number of Snapchat users in the rest of the world grew a whopping 55 percent year-over-year to hit 99 million, surpassing that of North America for the very first time. In contrast, there were 92 million North American Snapchat users in the same quarter and 74 million in Europe.

2. Snapchat Demographics: Age

This next Snapchat statistic highlights just how popular the app is among the younger generations. Nearly six in ten, or 59 percent to be exact, of all U.S. internet users aged 13 to 24 years use the photo-sharing app (DataReportal, 2021).

In fact, it’s currently the most popular social network among teens, ahead of Instagram, Twitter, and even social media giant Facebook. 

Snapchat’s main demographic has long consisted of millennials and Generation Z. Its creators understood what the younger generation wanted from social media platforms. With their target audience clearly specified from the beginning, they developed an understanding of the habits and preferences of this age group and created an app that gives them what they want.

The app’s popularity decreases as we move through the age groups. Just over one-fifth (21.5 percent) of U.S. internet users between 25 and 34 years old use Snapchat. That figure drops to less than one in eight for the 35 to 49 age group and just four percent of Snapchat users are aged 50 and above.

3. Number of Snaps Created

According to the latest Snapchat statistics, over 210 million snaps are created every single day (Snapchat, 2020). As a result, the company increased its total snaps created per quarter to a whopping 3.5 billion in the second quarter of 2019. 

The company attributes this growth to the higher number of users that are using newer Android devices. Snapchat says this group of users is sending 7 percent more snaps than users who are still on the older versions of Android. One of the platform’s most popular features is Snapchat streaks (or a Snapstreak, as it’s officially called). Users create Snapstreaks by creating and exchanging at least one snap per day for consecutive days. This feature encourages users to constantly create snaps, which boosts engagement, interaction, and user retention. You may be interested to know that the current record for the longest Snapstreak stands at 1,756!

4. Snapchat Mobile Usage

A new report reveals the applications that are responsible for the most downstream mobile traffic. The Snapchat app is in second place worldwide based on overall mobile usage (Sandvine, 2019). Snapchat has managed to build up a solid user base, which is why it showed up strongly in each region when it comes to mobile bandwidth usage. This Snapchat statistic seems even more spectacular when you compare it to its installed user base, in comparison to other social media apps. 

Snapchat users are described commonly as being very “noisy”. This means that they’re very active in the application, and share pictures and videos regularly. Engagement levels are high, and many Snapchat users frequent the app multiple times per day (more on this statistic later under point number eight). This drives up the mobile usage, in comparison to other similar social networking apps. 

Another point to keep in mind is that Snapchat users love using Snapchat filters. But when it comes to cellular data, Snapchat data usage can be quite high. This can explain why your mobile data usage is so high if you’re a heavy Snapchat user.

5. Snapchat Downloads

With more than 300 million downloads in 2020, it’s no surprise that Snapchat ranks as one of the most popular apps worldwide (Sensor Tower, 2021). Of all the apps that were downloaded last year, Snapchat ranks seventh. Ahead of it are TikTok, WhatsApp, Facebook, Zoom, Instagram, and Messenger. 

A big majority of Snapchat’s 2020 downloads came from Google Play. In fact, there were nearly five times more Snapchat downloads from Google Play than the Apple App Store. 

The difference is even more notable when we look at the top apps on the App Store and on Google Play in Q4 2020. Where Snapchat is the fifth-most downloaded app on Google Play during this period, it doesn’t feature even within the top 20 on the App Store.

The latest Snapchat statistics show that one-third of Snapchat’s total downloads in 2020 came from the fourth quarter alone. In Q4 2020, Snapchat was downloaded over 100 million times.

6. Number of Lenses Created on Snapchat

As previously mentioned, Snapchat’s lenses are one of its users’ favorite features and the numbers certainly prove it.

By the end of Q1 2020, Snapchat users had created more than 900,000 lenses with Lens Studio (Snapchat, 2020). That’s an approximate 28.5 percent increase from the 700,000 at the end of the previous quarter. 

In fact, according to the company’s estimates, one out of every three Snaps sent by users today is created with a lens. Aside from having fun in creating lenses, users are also enjoying seeing them, with top-performing lenses on Snapchat receiving billions of views. 

Snapchat lenses are also proving to be particularly popular during the coronavirus lockdown. The company says that downloads of Snap Camera, the desktop app that allows users to add lenses to their video conference calls, increased by as many as 30 times.

The popularity of lenses means Snapchat is constantly looking to add new lenses to its existing supply of lenses. Just recently, the company launched two new lenses, the Beard Lens and the Beard Removal Lens, for its users to play around with.

7. Snapchat Usage Frequency

Given the visual nature of Snapchat, its users are heavily reliant on their cameras, without which there probably wouldn’t even be Snapchat. The company estimates that the average daily active user accesses the Snapchat camera more than 20 times per day (Snapchat, 2020).  

That’s not surprising – considering that 95 percent of Snapchat users say using the app makes them feel happy. 

Snapchat’s power to entice users to socialize on the app is extremely strong. According to a study, the top reasons users use Snapchat include talking to friends, sharing photos, playing around with lenses and filters, and sharing videos. In comparison, most Twitter users use it to keep up with current events while most YouTube users hop on the platform to learn more about topics of interest. 

If you’re thinking of marketing on Snapchat in 2021, you may want to check out the latest Snapchat trends of 2021 that the app itself is forecasting for inspiration and ideas!

8. Snapchat Daily Users

For another Snapchat statistic about engagement, 63 percent of Snapchat users say they visit the site daily. And around half (49 percent) claim that they visit the social media app several times a day (Pew Research Center, 2018). This statistic reveals that young adults are heavy users of social media apps such as Snapchat. The same report also shows us that social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat are especially popular among young adults between the ages of 18 to 24. 

It’s important to point out that Snapchat renewed its focus on its Android app, which was lagging behind in terms of updates. In 2019, Snapchat not only updated the app, but also optimized it for Android operating system. And since most of the users of Snapchat are using the Android operating system, that gave the app improved possibility to expand its user base. Adding to this, Snapchat also updated the face filters for Android, and added some new ones to their list, such as the gender-swap and baby filter, which ended up going viral. 

These efforts lead to an increase in engagement of users and as a result also lead to an increase in the number of downloads of Snapchat. 

9. Snapchat Discover Feature

Nearly half of Snapchat’s daily Discover viewers watch Discover every day of the week (Snapchat, 2019). 

On January 27, 2015, Snap Inc. announced the launch of Snapchat Discover. Snapchat Discover is a feature that provides users with up-to-date news on current events, pop culture, and more. The launch of Snapchat Discover repositioned Snapchat as a distributor of news as well as a social media app to stay in touch with others. Users can access the Snapchat Discover feature by opening the Snapchat app on a mobile device and swiping right twice. On the Discover screen you can watch your friends’ Snapchat stories, but also publisher stories, various different shows and Snapchat stories. 

Snapchat Discover gives users the option to view stories created by publishers and TV networks. Popular networks create disappearing Stories comprised of text, image, and video. In this way, Snapchat’s Discover feature gives Snapchat the means to monetize content that they display to their audience. 

Despite its popularity, Snapchat Discover faces competition from other social media platforms, like Facebook and YouTube, that offer news and video content to audiences. 

10. Snapchat Influencer Marketing

Almost 4 in 10 Snapchatters claim that they discover brands thanks to Snapchat celebrity endorsements and online posts (Globalwebindex, 2018). 

Even though Snapchat isn’t the best platform to encourage influencers, their presence has grown over the years. One of the main reasons why influencers find it hard to establish themselves on the social media platform is because there is no real middle ground where you can build up your followers. Influencers on Snapchat usually take photos of themselves using products and share these snaps on Snapchat. This works best when it doesn’t seem like actual adverts. In a way, Snapchat influencer marketing relies on word-of-mouth marketing. Brands are encouraging influencers to use their products and spread the word to their fans and followers. 

The important thing to keep in mind for Snapchat influencer marketing is to find a partner that can associate with your brand image. This approach isn’t just limited to Snapchat, but to any type of influencer marketing campaigns, and can directly impact the success of your campaign. 

Conclusion: Snapchat Statistics

If anything these Snapchat statistics show us that Snapchat is here to stay. It has undergone a lot of growth in the past few years. And even though Snapchat saw a drop in users in 2018, it managed to make its way back out and get back on track in terms of revenue. In the coming years, Snapchat will continue to attract younger users, mainly millennials and Generation Z. And if that’s your target market, you know that Snapchat is the right place for your business to build a presence on. 

Summary: Snapchat Statistics 2021

 Here’s a summary of the Snapchat statistics for 2021:

1. As of Q4 2020, there are 265 million daily active Snapchat users worldwide.
2. 59 percent of all U.S. internet users aged 13 to 24 use Snapchat.
3. Over 210 million snaps are created on Snapchat every day.
4. Snapchat application is in second place worldwide based on overall mobile usage.
5. With 300+ million downloads, Snapchat was the seventh most popular app in 2020.
6. Nearly a million lenses have been created by Snapchat users (as of Q1 2020).
7. The average daily active user on Snapchat opens the app’s camera more than 20 times per day.
8. 63 percent of Snapchat users say they visit the site daily, with around half (49 percent) saying they visit the social media app several times a day.
9. Nearly half of Snapchat daily Discover viewers watched Discover every day of the week.
10. Almost 4 in 10 Snapchatters claim they discover brands thanks to Snapchat celebrity endorsements and online posts.

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