When it comes to social media platforms, Snapchat is pretty casual. You can take a picture, print some text and send it to a friend in an instant. But these are social networks. When it comes to in-app marketing, strategy is key. Developing a successful plan for your brand requires a lot of knowledge about your audience, including what social platforms they use, how and why.
Snapchat ads can reach 9% of the world’s population. This is about 712 million people. But who are they? How old are they? Where do they live? Depending on whether your brand caters to cool teens or trendy grandparents (or both: see statistic #10), you’ll need to do some app research before investing your hard-earned money into a marketing campaign.
Here are all the Snapchat stats and demographics you need to know.
General demographics of Snapchat
1. Snapchat is the 12th most popular social network in the world.
It ranks below Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and TikTok, but above Pinterest and Twitter.
Source: Digital 2022
2. 2 million pictures are sent every minute.
That’s an awful lot of mirror selfies, photos of dogs, and images of people’s foreheads.
Source: Statistics
3. Snapchat has over 306 million daily active users.
That’s on any average day – an improvement year-on-year from 249 million in 2021.
Source: Digital 2022
4.1.4% of internet users aged 16-64 list Snapchat as their favorite social media app.
It may not seem like much, but there are 4.95 billion Internet users, so 1.4% is quite enough (over 69 million).
Source: Digital 2022
5. Advertisers on SnapChat can reach 557.1 million people.
Together, this makes up 7% of the total population of the planet. Of these people, 53.8% identify as women and 45.4% identify as men.
Source: Digital 2022
(But advertising isn’t the only way to market on the platform. Find out more in our guide to using Snapchat for business.)
6. On average, Snapchat users spend 3 hours per month on the platform.
It is associated with Facebook Messenger and Telegram.
Source: Digital 2022
7. Nearly 50% of Reddit users also use Snapchat.
Of the social platforms explored in our 2022 digital report, Reddit users are also the most likely to use Snapchat (on the other hand, Snapchat users are also likely to use Instagram – 90% of them).
Source: Digital 2022
Snapchat age demographics
8. 39% of Snapchat’s advertising audience is between the ages of 18 and 24.
The largest age group using Snapchat is people aged 18 to 24, followed by people aged 25 to 34 and ages 13 to 17. So if your brand is aimed at a Gen Z audience, Snapchat should definitely be on your radar.
Source: Digital 2022
9. 3.7% of Snapchat’s ad audience is over 50.
This might make you rethink using an ad app if you’re targeting an older audience, but…
10. People over 50 make up the fastest growing Snapchat audience.
According to our October 2021 report, Snapchat usage among people over 50 has grown by 25% in less than a year – a community of Snapchat users that is growing faster than any other age group. In particular, men over 50 began to click more.
Source: Digital 2021
11. Snapchat has the biggest age gap among users compared to other social platforms.
According to the Pew Research Center, the age gap between the youngest and oldest Snapchat users is about 63 years old. That’s more than the age gap on Instagram (58 years) and much more than the age gap on Facebook (20 years).
12. 54% of Gen Z photographers use the app on a weekly basis.
In this case, generation Z refers to people between the ages of 12 and 17. The stats have remained stable over the past two years (while Instagram’s weekly user count has declined and TikTok’s weekly user count has increased, Snapchat’s weekly user count has remained the same).
So it doesn’t look like Snapchat’s younger generation audience is shrinking, but not necessarily growing either – persistence is the name of the game.
Source: Statistics
13. In 2022, TikTok finally surpassed Snapchat as the favorite social media app among teens.
This is according to an eMarketer survey published in April 2022. A newcomer to the TikTok block beat Snapchat in the hearts of teens.
Source: eMarketer
14. But 84% of teens say they use Snapchat at least once a month.
So in terms of engagement, Snapchat still outperforms TikTok when it comes to teens (80% of teens said they use TikTok at least once a month).
Snapchat Gender Demographics
15. Globally, 52.9% of Snapchat users identify as women.
And 46.3% identify themselves as male. This is pretty equal gender matching, which means that ads on this messaging app should reach all genders at about the same rate.
Source: Statistics
16. In the US, 55.1% of Snapchat users identify as women.
And 44.9% self-identify as male, which is pretty close to the global numbers, but if we’re delicate, the stats for Snapchat in the US skew women a little more compared to the rest of the world. This means that female-targeted content works well on Snapchat, so consider using the platform if your brand produces female-targeted products.
Source: Statistics
Demographics of Snapchat earnings
17. 29% of American adults who earn between $50,000 and $74,999 a year use Snapchat.
This is the highest percentage of all income levels, but Snapchat is actually pretty consistent in this area: 25% of people who make less than $30K use Snapchat, 27% of people who make $30K to $49,999 use Snapchat and 28% of people who earn over $75k using Snapchat. This means that one income group is not necessarily better suited for advertising than any other.
(Though it’s fair to say that people in this category of $75k and up probably have more money to throw your way.)
Source: Pew Research Center.
18. 32% of college students (and college graduates) use Snapchat.
As above, this is the biggest statistic in this category, but it’s still comparable to others: 21% of people who graduated from high school or less have used Snapchat, and 23% of people with college degrees use the platform.
Snapchat Location Demographics
19. With 126 million people, India is the country with the largest Snapchat ad audience.
Snapchat’s user base in India is 11.5% of the country’s total population over the age of 13. In second place is America, with an ad reach of 107,050,000 people (and, remarkably, a higher percentage than India: 38% of Americans). can be achieved with Snapchat ads). Then comes France with 24.2 million.
Source: Digital 2022
20. 28.3% of Snapchat users live in Asia Pacific.
This makes it the region with the most users relative to population, followed by North America (20.8% of North Americans use Snapchat) and the Middle East/Africa region (17.8% of people use Snapchat). This demographic is predicted to grow in the coming years, so consider using Snapchat for marketing if you’re targeting this region of the world.
Source: eMarketer