“For the first time, revenue in Q4 from advertisers outside of Ad Age’s Top 100 exceeded revenue from the Top 100 Advertisers,” Imran Khan, Snap’s chief strategy officer, said during the conference call.
However fast Snap is growing, it still has the world to conquer. EMarketer, a research firm, estimated that the company will generate $1.47 billion in net worldwide ad revenue this year, up 90 percent over 2017. That will give Snap less than 1 percent of the worldwide digital ad market.
Snap, based in Venice, Calif., may be benefiting from troubles at its much larger rival, Facebook. Under pressure from multiple sides, Facebook said last week it had made changes that reduced the hours its two billion users were spending on its pages.
Snap shares closed Tuesday during regular trading at $14.06. Even with the spike from the earnings, shares are about $17, which was the initial offering price last March. In its early days, the Snap platform was dismissed as a fad for teens. That criticism has been tempered, but there are still many doubters.
“The good news is that people continue to use Snapchat as voraciously as they have in the past,” said Rich Greenfield, media and tech analyst at the research firm BTIG. “The question remains, how big a business is it?”
Mr. Greenfield said Snap was a communications company that was trying to develop an advertising business. “They’re trying to do something that hasn’t been done,” he said.
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