Snapchat’s May Payday

Remember the gender-swap and baby filters Snapchat released last month? Even in today’s world of millisecond attention spans and one-hit viral wonders, they left quite the mark.

They also appear to have netted Snapchat a way-above-average monthly download bounty, according to Sensor Tower data shared with OneZero. In May, Snap was downloaded an estimated 41.5 million times, more than 2x the 16.8 million downloads the month before or the 17.6 million downloads racked up in May 2018.

• Remember: As you learned in high school statistics, correlation ≠ causation...but there’s no denying daily downloads spiked after the filters were introduced.

The augmented bottom line

Bringing back Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends: We’re communicating more and more through images enhanced by augmented reality (AR), top-notch smartphone cameras, and AI features.

These AR overlays have been a hit with Snap’s target demo, prompting other tech companies like Facebook to play copycat. As the May download numbers show, Snap’s AR products may give it a much-needed competitive edge—if it keeps serving up crowd pleasers.