While the battle for supremacy in online video has heated up between Facebook and YouTube, a relatively smaller yet high-performing player has steadily cemented its position.
Social media messaging app Snapchat has recently revealed that its users are now viewing 4 billion videos per day.
The total daily views ties Snapchat with Facebook’s daily video views back in April, and presents new opportunities on a different platform.
Notably, Facebook’s stat has prompted criticism from video creators as the social media giant counts a view after someone watches a minimum of three seconds of autoplay in its News Feed.
YouTube has stopped reporting that metric, focusing instead on watch time as the measure of audience engagement.
Snapchat video views are considered on click, but since they play full screen and are just a maximum of 10 seconds long, it proves people are paying more attention.
Snapchat for Businesses
What’s most interesting about the feat is that Snapchat has reached this milestone after clocking 2 billion video views per day in May this year and 3 billion just five weeks ago. The numbers clearly indicate the rapid growth of the company and its potential to help businesses reach more customers.
The company works closely with its advertisers to develop customized ads best-suited for its platform. It emphasizes on vertical videos, which take up the whole screen when mobile devices are held upright.
It also has some guidelines to encourage brands to be more creative to ensure users don’t get bored seeing the same ads.
Snapchat works for businesses also because it ensures marketers are more likely to pay for real views. Moreover, availability of a Snapchat picture for a set time limit makes it a great tool to deliver a call to action that creates excitement.
The Challenge
Reaching the audience on Snapchat, however, is not as easy as it sounds.
According to a recent survey, only 17 percent of smartphone users say they use temporary social messaging apps like Snapchat and Wickr. These temporary social messaging apps let users take pictures or short videos and decide how long they will remain visible to the recipient.
The limited time frame presents a challenge because it’s often difficult to retain the attention of today’s audience.
Snapchat’s growing popularity, however, is not going unnoticed. Tech savvy businesses are trying to figure out ways in which this platform can be used to reach audience in an effective manner.
Phone Image via Shutterstock
I never used snap chat kinda stuff, apart from not having much of the free time, I wonder how people chat with snaps only!!! Whatsapp is enough for me though !
Shubhomita Bose
Thanks for your comment Jenna. I think a lot of users share your sentiment, although Snapchat’s popularity does prove its success in reaching an increasing number of people. Peer pressure and growing popularity among celebrities could be the driving force.
It’s Ok for celebrities… they can do such things as
1. They too busy to do long chats
2. They have to show off
3. Their life is kinda snapchat itself lol
But as far as a lay man is concerned, its a useless thing or at last for me its a total waste.
Aira Bongco
Snapchat is slowly on the rise. I have seen lots of people on IG sharing their snapchats – it shows that there is now considerable activity in the app.
Shubhomita Bose
Thanks for your comment Aira. Yes, it will be interesting to see what they come up with next.