Always Free SEO Analysis Tool: Survey: Snapchat is a fleeting hobby and ads don’t stick

Thursday 23 February 2017

Survey: Snapchat is a fleeting hobby and ads don’t stick

A recent survey released by Fluent, an people-based marketing platform, may show that Snapchat’s peak could be coming to an end. The survey consisted of 3,327 adults over the age of 18 in early February with interesting results.

Of importance was the possible fleeting impact of Snapchat. Some key findings:

Nearly half of the people answering the survey (who are not necessarily Snapchat users themselves–only 24.2% of total respondents use the service) think Snapchat is just a fad (47.9%). The younger demographic skewed more heavily toward Snapchat’s longevity (68.8% between 18-24 think it will stick around) while 45.2% of those 55 and over felt that it has a long life ahead.
The media sharing network is naturally most popular among the younger age bracket. Nearly 78% of users 18-24 use Snapchat at least daily, with 2/3 of those using Snapchat “all the time.” Among older Snapchat users 55+, 43.8% reported to use it daily (31.3% used it “all the time.”)
That said, even though it is popular for its current time, 1/3 of all Snapchat users believe they won’t even be using it 5 years from now, and men seemed more disinterested in continuing with the service. Nearly 50% of users said they won’t be using the service ten years from now.
Snapchat’s perpetuity also seems to be an age thing. Those surveyed under the age of 35 said that they are less likely to use the service when they turn 35 (55.4%).

Competition?

There’s also room for a new service to steal what Snapchat’s best at. 62.3% of respondents said they will switch to a newer alternative to Snapchat if one launches.
This is an interesting response, considering how similar Instagram is to Snapchat and yet 72.7% of Snapchat users have never created or viewed Instagram stories. 44.6% of those are between the ages of 18 and 24; 84.5% of those are above 55.
Those who did say they’ve created or viewed an Instagram story remain loyal to Snapchat, though. 53.1% prefer Snapchat to Instagram.

Ads? No thanks

Snapchat ads may exist, but they’re not a popular mainstay on the network. Only 9.4% of Snapchat users never skip ads, but 7.2% report to “rarely” skip ads. Nearly half (44%) “always” skip ads, 25.1% “often” do and 14.3 “sometimes” skip them.
Fifty percent of users 18-24 “always” skip ads, but 27.1% of users 55+ do. Only 7.6% “never” skip ads among users 18-24 (versus 20.8% of those 55+).

Key Snapchat influences

News media (such as CNN and The New York Times) do not have that much of a presence on Snapchat; while they may have a profile, they don’t get so many eyeballs. Only 38.7% of users reported following publisher accounts on Snapchat. This didn’t improve by age bracket; in fact, 37% of Snapchat users between 18-24 do report following news media but only 22.9% of 55+ report doing the same.
On the other hand, sports accounts saw a little more of a draw on Snapchat. 42.1% report following accounts such as ESPN or the NFL, and this was most popular for men (50.1% follow compared to 36.0% women who also follow sports accounts).
Only 43.2% of users follow pop culture Snapchat accounts. Of these, 45.3% are women and 40.3% are men.
Internet celebrities do have influence, though. 51.4% report following popular Internet celebs. This is especially true for those between the age of 18-24 (60.5%). However, TV celebs just don’t have the same appeal (48.1%).

With Snapchat’s IPO almost imminent, is the service sustainable? These findings make it hard to tell.