Snapchat reached 453 million daily active users in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 39 million, or 9 percent year-over-year.
The social media company reported revenue of $1.55 billion up from $1.36 billion in the prior year. Advertising revenue made up $1.41 billion of that revenue, and was up 10% year-over-year. Net income was $9 million, after a net loss of $248 million in the prior year.
Snap attributed the swing to profit to several factors, including a $117 million improvement in adjusted EBITDA, a $78 million reduction in stock based compensation and related expenses, favorable net investment impacts of $27 million and an improvement of $22 million in non-recurring items due to business restructuring costs incurred in the prior year.
Snap added that its Snap Star program, which allows influencers to make money from their content on the platform, led to a more than 40 percent year-over-year increase in the number of creators posting content on Snapchat in Q4. However, the number of Daily Active Users in North America has remained at 100 million for some time, with growth coming from the “rest of the world” segment, which does not include Europe.
Outside of revenue generated from advertisements, the company’s Other Revenue category, most of which is made up of Snapchat+ subscription revenue, grew 131 percent year-over-year in 2024 and exited the year with an annualized revenue run rate of more than $500 million.
In the first quarter of 2025, Snapchat expects to reach 459 million daily active users. The company expects first-quarter revenue between $1.325 billion and $1.36 billion. However, Snap’s first-quarter adjusted earnings are expected to come in lower than analyst expectations at $40 million to $75 million, as the company plans to invest more heavily starting in Q1.
Operating expenses are expected to grow in the range of 11% to 12% year-over-year due to hiring, legal-related costs and “a seasonal shift of marketing expenses into Q1 relative to the prior year,” Snap said. The company also donated $5 million to wildfire relief and said it may invest more.
“As we look ahead to 2025, we see additional opportunities to invest productively in scaling our business given the foundational improvements we have made to our ad platform and the momentum we have established in our go to market initiatives, particularly the SMB segment [focused on small and medium-sized businesses]’, Snap said in its earnings letter. “Our investment plans for 2025 reflect this optimism, alongside a strong commitment to make further financial progress towards profitability as we scale.”
In 2025, the company also said it plans to unveil a “simplified Snapchat experience,” focused on accessibility and usability. In 2024, Snap launched its 5th generation of augmented reality glasses, Spectacles. and it now plans to “enhance” its tools to “simplify AR creation and increase the number of Spectacles experiences that can bring augmented reality into everyday life.”
“In 2024 we made significant progress on our core priorities of growing our community and improving depth of engagement, driving top line revenue growth and diversifying our revenue sources, while building toward our long-term vision for augmented reality,” said Evan Spiegel, CEO. “Active advertisers more than doubled in Q4, with the improvements we have made to our advertising platform driving improved advertiser performance and helping to grow revenue 14% year-over-year.”
