WEBVTT - Kurt Wagner on Snap (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>In earnings news, Snap reported its slowest quarterly sales growth

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<v Speaker 1>ever and joining us now for a closer look. As

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<v Speaker 1>Kurt Wagner Bloomberg Technology report him, So, Snap is not

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<v Speaker 1>exactly a bill Weather and it's probably not big enough

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<v Speaker 1>for us to feature it, but we were doing so

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<v Speaker 1>because we want to get the read through Kurt, for

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<v Speaker 1>the industry generally advertising, and particularly with the companies like

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<v Speaker 1>Meta and Google trading down in after hours. And let

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<v Speaker 1>me just get our audience the latest down down for

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<v Speaker 1>Snap after the earnings. How much of a read through

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<v Speaker 1>will there be for companies like Meta and Google. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>these companies that all you know do digital advertising, they

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<v Speaker 1>tend to move in a pack, right and and so

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<v Speaker 1>that's why you're seeing Snap report poor earnings and these

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<v Speaker 1>other companies are seeing to sell off as well. So

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<v Speaker 1>that happened to be first this quarter in terms of

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<v Speaker 1>reporting earnings. As you mentioned, it wasn't great. I do

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<v Speaker 1>think that has some uh kind of preparation or that

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<v Speaker 1>prepares us somewhat for for the facebooks and Google's of

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<v Speaker 1>the world to go. I will say though Snap has

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<v Speaker 1>been a little bit more dramatic in terms of the

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<v Speaker 1>impact of some of the advertising related changes like things

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<v Speaker 1>to Apple's iOS. Feels like that's hit Snap maybe a

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<v Speaker 1>little harder than some some other companies. So I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>necessarily sure if this is exactly going to correlate with

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<v Speaker 1>those others. But again, they tend to move directionally together,

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<v Speaker 1>and so that's why you're seeing that sell off cut.

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<v Speaker 1>The chap price actually from thirteen months ago when it

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<v Speaker 1>was at the peak is down. Okay, that's one thing

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<v Speaker 1>which doesn't inspire confidence. The number two things, what's the

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<v Speaker 1>point of this company? Well, uh, it's very popular with

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<v Speaker 1>young people and it's a message Well it's it's a

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<v Speaker 1>user base is still growing, so I would I guess

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<v Speaker 1>I would push back slightly. Now you could argue whether

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<v Speaker 1>or not, uh it's you know, necessarily has the same

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<v Speaker 1>utility as as some of the other messaging services out there,

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<v Speaker 1>but I mean it's user based. Did grow. They added

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<v Speaker 1>fifty seven million new users in the past a year,

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<v Speaker 1>and so when you think about that, there are still

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people who want to use this product,

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<v Speaker 1>who use it to message or to get you know,

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<v Speaker 1>entertaining content. What Snap needs to figure out is how

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<v Speaker 1>to make money from those people. Right, It's clearly adding people.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not making money from them as well as it

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<v Speaker 1>needs to. Well, it may have lost a fair bit

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<v Speaker 1>of influence to TikTok. I think that's right. I I

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<v Speaker 1>you know, I feel like we're talking a lot about

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<v Speaker 1>the ad industry hurting Snap. I don't think we're talking

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<v Speaker 1>quite enough about the impact of TikTok, right, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>to Mark Zuckerberg's credit, he has said that TikTok has

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<v Speaker 1>been a huge hit on Facebook and it's growth. I

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<v Speaker 1>feel like we haven't heard quite as much of that

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<v Speaker 1>from Snap. But you know, they're playing in the same sandbox,

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<v Speaker 1>if you will. They're going after a lot of the

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<v Speaker 1>same users. So I imagine that TikTok is having quite

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<v Speaker 1>an impact on on snaps user based and growth as well.

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<v Speaker 1>So I think we should. You know, I thought about

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<v Speaker 1>it was when this market, this company did come to

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<v Speaker 1>market that it's sure it's it may have a big

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<v Speaker 1>user base and did have a huge user base. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>but the thing is it's the wrong demographic. They don't

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<v Speaker 1>have the money, right. That's always been the knock on

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<v Speaker 1>on young users. Right. On the one hand, everybody wants

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<v Speaker 1>teens and young adults on their platform, because that's how

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<v Speaker 1>you build those lifelong relationships, right, you get people to

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<v Speaker 1>to fall in love with your product when they're young.

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<v Speaker 1>On the other hand, those aren't the people with a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of buying and spending power, as you just pointed out.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think that's always sort of been an issue

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<v Speaker 1>with Snap, not only uh, you know, because their users

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<v Speaker 1>might not have the disposable income, but they haven't been

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<v Speaker 1>great at what are called direct response ads either, which

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<v Speaker 1>are kind of those really precisely targeted ads, like you know,

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<v Speaker 1>selling you a pair of shoes right then and there.

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<v Speaker 1>Right Those are the types of things that maybe young

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<v Speaker 1>people might be more willing to do, but you have

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<v Speaker 1>to have the ad system set up to do that,

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<v Speaker 1>and I don't think Snap ever really quite got there. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess it's not the right corollary. But you know,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a lot of films that are made for teenagers,

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<v Speaker 1>but then they do pay the the you know, they

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<v Speaker 1>buy the ticket and go in. It's not the same

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<v Speaker 1>as advertising. Kurt, out of time, but thanks very much

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<v Speaker 1>for being with us. Kurt Wagner and Bloomberg Technology Report