Snapchat success continues to steam ahead in the month of June. First Twitter got spanked again when Snapchat pulled ahead in daily user number with 150 million to Twitter’s 140 million. Then the 10-second video champs creept their way into Instagram’s territory.
According to Business Insider, Snapchat has overtaken Instagram in the amount of time users spend in the app. This includes Facebook’s other apps, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The Facebook app itself is still ahead in terms of iPhone users in the US, and all Facebook apps continue to enjoy higher numbers of daily active users as compared to Snapchat.
The article cites a survey of 6,500 US teens by investment bank Piper Jaffray that showed Instagram dropping from 33% in 2015 to 27% as the teens’ favorite social network, while Snapchat gained ground, moving up from 19% in 2015 to 28% in 2016.
At the recent Code Conference, Mary Meeker railed against the lack of efficacy in traditional online advertising during her annual Internet Trends Report. Those of us that use the wonderful worldwide web on a regular basis weren’t that shocked that adblocking is up and engagement of banner ads is down, or that 62 percent of users are “Annoyed with / Put off by Brand Forcing Pre-Roll Viewing,” but hopefully her data will wake up a few more brands and agencies to get more creative in their advertising efforts.
You know who’s winning in that department? You guessed it. “There are ads that work out there, some of the best come from Snapchat,” said Meeker of Taco Bell’s Cinco De Mayo campaign that generated 224 million views on Snapchat. That’s 36 percent more views than a similar campaign from Gatorade during the Super Bowl that – just a guess – cost A LOT more to produce and run.
This week more live event entities jumped on the Snapchat Live Stories train, as the social platform struck multi-year deals with AEG Live and Wimbledon.
Brand sponsorships and festivals go hand in hand, and according to Billboard, Snapchat and AEG Live have already sold out their entire Live Story inventory for the rest of 2016.
One of the brands that got in on the action was Malibu Rum, running video ad spots that appeared alongside Hangout Fest fans’ own Live Story experiences shared on Snapchat.
For Pernod Ricard, the spirits conglomerate behind Malibu Rum, they see the sponsorship of live music events as a strategic brand move. “Integrating ourselves into the festival’s Live Story was the perfect opportunity to connect Malibu with one of the biggest AEG music festivals and, at the same time, be a part of the summer story that they are creating every hour of every day,” stated Tim Murphy, Pernod Ricard USA’s vice president of digital and media.
The Hangout Fest and Snapchat sponsorship was part of Malibu Rum’s #BECAUSESUMMER live music event social campaigns that also run on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. One campaign took place during the Free Summer Press Festival featuring photo opps with Matt & Kim (don’t they look adorable!).
“Partnering with AEG Live helps us capture thousands of unique perspectives from the event, allowing our community to dive in to the story and feel like they are actually there – from backstage to the front row,” said Ben Schwerin, director of partnerships at Snapchat in a statement announcing the partnership. “This deal also provides a great opportunity for brands to align with music content and reach our audience.”
Andrew Klein, senior vice president, AEG Global Partnerships sees this brand and social partnerships as a win for the live music fans as well, “to share their favorite moments with their fellow attendees, but also with music fans around the world.”
One of Snapchat’s unique characteristics is giving users the ability to have fun with overlays in their Snaps. A variety of custom festival-branded overlays will be created by Snapchat and made available for AEG events, including Panorama festival in New York City, July 22-24, and for FYF Fest in Los Angeles, August 28-29, 2016.
For more on the Wimbledon and Snapchat collaboration, plus more data from the Internet Trends Report on brand advertising, check out the recent Connected Festival Report, “Festival’s Live Streaming Momentum Mirrors Brand’s Future in Video.”
