Executive Summary

Snapchat and Twitter are very different properties, but they share one thing in common: Both remain in the shadow of Facebook and Instagram. Even though they have far fewer users, solid ad opportunities on each platform are available, and both are managing to produce revenue gains despite their challenges.

How many people use Snapchat?

Snapchat's growth will be up 7.1% from last year, with a total of 84.8 million monthly users in the US. Its grip on teens and young adults, along with its creative ad offerings, continue to be its strongest features. Snapchat has also been able to avoid most of the negative attention that Facebook and Twitter have received over fake news, election meddling and other controversies.

How many people are using Twitter?

Twitter’s user base will reach 55.2 million in the US this year, up just 0.9% from last year. It remains home to discussions of news and real-time events, but it has also become a tool for those who want to stir up negative sentiment. That, along with longstanding user interface challenges, has made engagement and time spent lag.

How much ad revenue will Snapchat have this year?

Snapchat is aggressively adding new ad products, with a focus on augmented reality and direct response. However, we have lowered our 2018 US ad revenues expectations by 36% since our last forecast in February 2018. This is, in part, because the move to a programmatic auction has reduced ad prices. We expect Snapchat to have $662 million in US ad revenues this year.

How much ad revenue will Twitter have this year?

Twitter’s pace of ad product development has slowed, but video has emerged as a somewhat surprising bright spot. We believe US ad revenues will fall 1.9% this year, to $1.15 billion. That’s not great, but it’s an improvement from the 4.9% falloff we had forecast in February.

How do Snapchat’s and Twitter’s audiences compare to that of Facebook?

Snapchat’s audience is half as big as Facebook’s, while Twitter’s is one-third the size.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report updates our forecasts for Snapchat and Twitter and dissects their strengths and weaknesses relative to Facebook and Instagram.