What happened and why Snap (+22.56%) posted record revenue and brought in more advertisers than ever before as advertisers turn their backs on Facebook, sending revenues and new customers gushing to Snap in the process. Social media is getting more political by the day, whether it likes it or not. As hard as they try to appear neutral gossip-grounds for freedom of speech, not everyone buys it... Advertisers... are getting fed-up with Facebook for its stance on hate speech and content moderation, especially at the height of the George Floyd protests.Ciao, for now... When they boycotted, the advertisers looked to new places for the dough... 👻 Enter Snap... ready and waiting to put that client money to work, with more than 1,100 companies pulling their digital advertising dollars from Facebook (for July, at least)... Cha-ching... Revenues at Snap jumped 52% in the third quarter to $679m - crushing analysts expectations, who had expected something closer to $552m.Investors loved it... shares in Snap jumped nearly 22% in after hours trading. But advertisers telling Facebook to 'speak to the hand' wasn't all that Snap had to celebrate. A lot of the potential coronavirus-related headwinds that the company had warned about, like low demand with no 'back-to-school' campaigns, hardly seemed to materialised. Not just a good luck story... and besides, you make your own luck... The LA tech giant has launched new ad formats over the past year in a bid to woo spending away from Facebook and Google’s YouTube - making advertisers' decision easier. The ghost-led challenger has invested big money in developing a self-service ads business to make life simpler (& cheaper) for smaller businesses to play the advertising game - just like its intimidating cousins in Silicon valley. And if these... 'favourable operating conditions persist...', Snap's Chief financial Officer, Derek Anderson, expects fourth-quarter revenue growth of nearly 50%. 🙏 Dream combo... With more ads and more users, Snap is turning its attention to engagement with some of its fresh new features... AR... There is also rising interest in its augmented reality offering - where customers try on clothes with brands such as Levi's, at a time when shops are in lockdown and try-ons are not play-on.But they're not alone... its an increasingly crowded marketplace. Facebook is releasing its first pair of consumer augmented reality glasses next year and partnering with Ray-Ban maker Luxottica to design the frames. | The Takeaway Snap also enjoyed a major boost in usage from coronavirus lockdowns. Daily active users in the quarter rose 18% compared to last year to hit 249m, at a time when any screen will do. Snap-back... Like with most aspect of life, lockdown has accelerated trends and rewarded a lot of forward-thinking companies in the process. Investing heavily into its advertising platform and implementing creative ways for clients to advertise, has set up Snap for a Snapback, that most investors didn't see coming.
