Snapchat Q1 2025: Growth and Challenges
Snapchat's first quarter 2025 performance report reveals a mixed bag. While daily active users (DAUs) reached 460 million (up 38 million year-over-year) and monthly active users (MAUs) hit 900 million, growth is primarily concentrated in the "Rest of the World" segment.

This presents both opportunities and challenges. Emerging markets like India show promise, but Snapchat's core revenue comes from the U.S. and EU, where user growth is stagnant.

The company acknowledges the need to improve monetization in existing markets. Efforts include focusing on visual communication, AI-powered personalization, and strengthening the creator ecosystem.
“We continue to see robust growth in our global community driven by ongoing adoption of visual communication in less mature markets. To continue to grow our community in North America and Europe, we are prioritizing innovation in three key areas: enhancing our core product value of visual communication, investing in our AI and ML models for better content ranking and personalization, and strengthening our creator ecosystem.”
Revenue Growth and New Initiatives
Despite the user growth challenges, Snapchat's Q1 2025 revenue reached $1.36 billion, a 14% year-over-year increase. This is attributed to growth in direct response advertising, focus on SMBs, and the success of Snapchat+.

With nearly 15 million subscribers, Snapchat+ has seen a 59% year-over-year increase, outperforming other social media subscription services. This success has significantly contributed to "Other Revenue," which grew 75% year-over-year to $152 million.
“This helped contribute to Other Revenue growing 75% year-over-year to reach $152 million in Q1 at a just over $600M annualized run rate.”
Engagement and Content Strategy
Global time spent watching content increased, likely due to improved AI and machine learning models for content ranking and personalization. Short-form video views on Spotlight also doubled year-over-year.
Snapchat is also focusing on onboarding creators to its Snap Star program, with the number of Spotlight posts by Snap Stars growing over 125% year-over-year in North America.
Looking Ahead
While Snapchat's Q1 2025 results show positive signs in revenue and engagement, the lack of user growth in key markets remains a concern. The company's future success hinges on its ability to further monetize existing users and successfully expand in emerging markets. New initiatives like the Affiliate Program and continued investment in AR technologies (like AR glasses) will be key to watch.