Snapchat is on a tear.
At the beginning of the year, Coins2Day reported that Snapchat was nearing its older and more established social media rival Facebook in terms of daily video views. Just two month’s later, the startup appears to have caught up.
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Snapchat’s video traffic has surged to 8 billion daily video views from 7 billion at the beginning of the year, Recode reports, citing an unnamed source who attended Morgan Stanley’s (MS) Tech, Media & Telecom conference in San Francisco and who heard Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel present the revised figure there.
That’s more than five times the number the company counted a year ago, Spiegel reportedly said, according to unnamed sources who spoke to Bloomberg. The gathering included public market investors and bankers.
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Facebook (FB) last reported 8 billion daily video views in Nov., though it is possible—indeed probable—that the figure has increased since then. Facebook did not immediately reply to Coins2Day’s request for comment.
Snapchat’s growth has been similarly remarkable.The disappearing messaging app’s traffic rocketed to 6 billion daily video views from 2 billion between June and Nov. Of last year, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Read more: “How Facebook’s Video Traffic Explosion Is Shaking Up the Advertising World”
Last valued at $16 billion, 5-year-old Snapchat clocks in at number five on Coins2Day’s list of “unicorn” tech startups, private firms valued at $1 billion or more. The company, which bases the majority of its revenue on media partnerships and advertising, is expected eventually to set terms for an initial public offering.
Earlier this year Coins2Day noted that the app’s “stories” feature has contributed greatly to its surge in daily video views. It’s also worth noting that the company’s partnerships with publishers—a feature called “discover”— has boosted its video traffic figures.
