The cynic in me feels this has more to do with the quarterly imperative to improve numbers showing that they've figured out how to start monetizing rather than an indication of the health of the company. The number of friends I see using Snapchat have dwindled mightily, although I admit I'm not quite the target audience (being a 29 year old male.
Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
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Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
#32I don't use it myself, but all day I've heard nothing but complaints over the new version that apparently came out today.
I honestly expect them to roll it back. I've used it for a few weeks on the beta, and it's turned me away from certain features because they're so separated and disjoint.
Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
#33Alternative headline: SNAP somehow surges 22% in after-hours trading despite reporting a $3.5BN loss and burning $819MM in cash.
While revenue and user growth are both positive signs, there are still plenty of red flags. SNAP's hefty valuation is based on much higher growth rates and a faster route to profitability that still has yet to be seen.
[1] https://investor.snap.com/~/media/Files/S/Snap-IR/reports-an...
Edit: grammar
Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
#34The "Publisher" stories I see on Snapchat are invariably stories about various Kardashian/Jenner family members or generic buzzfeed-esque millennial-targeted clickbait.
These seem very poorly targeted towards me. Does everyone see only this? Are there ways to get into different/better advertising buckets? Even something like "GQ" would be far better than the "People" content I'm currently seeing.
On Instagram the ads are targeted at things I would actually click through and buy -- lots of ads for shoes, bags, clothing, kickstarter-like items, etc.
I assume that's via the hashtags and people I follow on Instagram: cars, travel, architecture, etc. + perhaps via some creepy FaceBook magic.
Without hashtags, how does Snapchat figure out what "Publishers" I'd want to see?
Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
#35The "Publisher" stories I see on Snapchat are invariably stories about various Kardashian/Jenner family members or generic buzzfeed-esque millennial-targeted clickbait. These seem very poorly targeted towards me. Does everyone see only this? Are there ways to get into different/better advertising buckets? Even something like "GQ" would be far better than the "People" content I'm currently seeing. On Instagram the ads…
That's mostly what I see in the publisher section too. I wasn't under the impression that it was curated per user but I could be wrong. I don't interact with the publisher stuff a ton.
Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
#36Snap users and advertisers have responded very positively to the clear division between user generated content and advertising. If you are not a Snap user, or if you haven't used it in awhile, I encourage you to check it out. Snap advertisers are mostly lifestyle brands that want to engage with their users in a new way. Tacobell isn't advertising on Snap, but Popular Mechanics is. When a user clicks on Popular Mechan…
Why would I want to "engage" with "lifestyle brands"? Am I missing something here? What does that even mean?
>What does that even mean?
My guess is it's just another way of saying people like consuming media from companies that are relevant to their interests.
I personally find Snap's advertising to be nice. It's nice to have it separate from what my friends upload like what others have said. I've also found that what Snap puts out is way more enjoyable to look at than Facebook's advertisements.
Take sports for example. I'm a huge NFL, NBA, and MLB fan. Facebook's sports-oriented ads are usually limited to the game score which I don't need to look at because the game is already on my TV. Snap, on the other hand, puts up a nice collection of Snapchat videos from other people. I can get a pre-game locker room video from the players and I can get a fan's view of the game-winning touchdown in the same collection. Both are things you wouldn't see on a typical game broadcast. I'm fully aware that both are advertisements, but one is significantly more relevant and more enjoyable for me to consume than the other.
Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Put another way, this is roughly the cost of walking through a town at 0.1 MPH, destroying every house you come across.
you don't destroy the house, you transfer it from investors to employees, largely executives. reason is, the "loss" isn't cash outflow, it's from compensation by creating stock, which investors pay for via dilution.
I'm not suggesting the wealth actually is being destroyed in this case. It's a mental heuristic for comprehending large amounts.
A billion dollars isn't an amount of wealth that has any real meaning to my brain compared to things that happen in my life. On the other hand, I have a very real and personal understanding of about how much a house is worth. From that, it's reasonable to get a gut understanding of an amount of cost by imagining houses being destroyed at a certain pace.
Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eh, it was all booked in 2017. But almost $2 billion of this loss actually accrued over many years as stock options compensation.
Hello 1999!
No, in 1999 most public tech companies didn't account for stock options in that way. They pretended they weren't an expense, boosting their profitability figures. Although the dotcom bubble arguably played a big role in finally causing a shift in that accounting practice.
https://hbr.org/2003/03/for-the-last-time-stock-options-are-...
Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
#39Snap users and advertisers have responded very positively to the clear division between user generated content and advertising. If you are not a Snap user, or if you haven't used it in awhile, I encourage you to check it out. Snap advertisers are mostly lifestyle brands that want to engage with their users in a new way. Tacobell isn't advertising on Snap, but Popular Mechanics is. When a user clicks on Popular Mechan…
How do you get Popular Mechanics on the Publishers tab? I only see Kylie Jenner.
Re: Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Companies don't die when they lose money. They cut expenses or they get acquired. Companies die when they have no revenue. If I were an investor in Snap I would much rather see them raise revenue then cut expenses or decrease loses. Their loses are considered in the stock price.
It's clearly not that simple. Barring an absolutely horrendous product, one can almost always purchase $100 of revenue for $105.
5% might be a little low, but you do make a valid point that you cannot make a business selling at a loss.