SUMMARY
Overall, Snapchat recorded a 20% increase in its daily user base
Last year, Snapchat India had seen a 40% spike in its user base
Until 2017, India was not a focus market for Snapchat due to its demographic
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After recording a 120% year-on-year (YoY) spike in its daily active user base in India for the year ending March 2020, Snapchat is now looking to organise an online lens designing hackathon, Lensathon, in partnership with HRtech platform Skillenza.
Talking about the growth in Snapchat’s daily active users across the globe, Snap Inc Managing Director Nana Murugesan said that Snapchat had more than 229 Mn users at the end of March 2020 quarter, noting an increase of 39 Mn users. This is a 20% increase YoY. At the same time, the company has noted a 120% increase in its daily active user base in India.
Though the company does not disclose country-specific data, it had previously highlighted that Snapchat has seen a 40% daily active user (DAU) increase from the second quarter of 2018 to the second quarter of 2019. Jared Grusd, CEO of Snapchat, had also highlighted that India is a strategic priority for Snap.
“We believe that building a team locally will allow us to create the best possible experience for local Snapchatters. We continue to expand our strategic partnerships with regional media companies, add more community content and work with local content creators,” Grusd added. The company had also set up its first India office in Mumbai last year.
Murugesan also specified that Snapchat’s team in India continues to focus on culturally relevant product developments, creative tools, community engagement and partnerships. The company has also added five more languages, introduced creative tools to celebrate cultural moments and festivals and onboarded celebrities in the last six months. Besides this, the company had also added more official lens creators and partnered with local media brands, advertisers, OEMs and telcos as well.
Back in 2017, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel allegedly told an employee that the reason Snapchat is not focussing on the Indian market is that the “app is only for rich people.” He also added that he does not want to expand into “poor countries like India and Spain”, according to a report published in Variety.
Snapchat Looks To Get More Lens Creators From India
Under its Lensathon hackathon, participants create eye-catching lenses and AR experiences using Lens Studio by Snapchat’s parent company Snap. The winners will be a part of the official Lens Creator programme on Snap, and will also get a chance to win other cash prizes and Snap spectacles.
Last year, the company had hosted 11 Lens Studio workshops in Indian colleges and universities. Meanwhile this year, it has hosted digital workshops for Pearl Academy, ISDI, Symbiosis Pune, Thapar Institute of Technology, Manipal Institute of Technology, SRM Institute, and Deviprasad Goenka Management College Of Media Studies.
“We are excited to be hosting our first Lensathon in partnership with Skillenza to reach over five lakh developers in India. We see this as a big step forward in democratising creativity, building the future of AR alongside our community and making available even more compelling, relevant experiences for Snapchatters,” Murugesan noted.
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