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Snap Inc. posted its Q3 2026 earnings report on Wednesday, which showed that user growth on Snapchat has largely stalled, while overall company revenue saw a steady year-over-year increase.
First, on users. Snapchat now has 495 million daily active users, up from 493 million in Q2.
An increase of just 2 million daily actives, quarter over quarter, is not a particularly positive endorsement of the app’s expanded market opportunities. But even more pressing, Snapchat saw no growth at all in daily active users in either the North American or European markets, meaning all user growth came from its Rest of World segment.
This could end up having a broader impact on the platform’s revenue potential, because Snapchat generates the majority of its money in North America and Europe.
Indeed, Snapchat’s revenue per user in North America was $11.07 in Q3, up from $10.26 the previous quarter. By contrast, the platform only generated $1.13 per user in the Rest of World. That means that Snapchat is only seeing user growth in regions where it earns 90% less per user, which is based primarily on ad intake.
It’s possible that Snapchat could also be hit harder than other apps by expanded teen social media bans, which are being considered or implemented in multiple markets. According to Pew Research published last year, around 55% of U.S. teens between ages 13 and 17 use Snapchat, making it the fourth most popular platform among this cohort, after YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.
In Australia, which implemented social media usage restrictions for children under age 16 in December 2025, Snapchat said it subsequently locked or disabled more than 415,000 user accounts. These accounts, per Snapchat, had either been openly declared as belonging to a user under age 16, or Snapchat determined that was the case based on its age detection technology.
Snapchat said in August 2023 that it had more than 8 million users in Australia. That means the teen social media bans may have cost the platform around 5% of its total user base in that market.
Which may not seem like a major shift, but if Snapchat loses 5% of its users across the world, that would be significant, especially given its already shrinking growth margins. In addition, teen bans could also lead to Snapchat losing some of its value as the connection tool for younger audiences.
On the positive side, in his prepared remarks to accompny the earnings report, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said that average daily messages sent in the app increased 8% year over year in Q3, while the number of people engaging in two-way communication increased 6% year over year for the same period.
Spiegel also noted that the number of people posting to Spotlight grew 130% year over year, while daily active viewers increased 40% year over year, underlining the enduring value of short-form video content.
On the revenue side, the company’s intake rose 14% year-over-year to $1.72 billion.
By region, overall third-quarter revenue in North America was up 13% year over year to $1.01 billion, while Europe was up 22 % to $363 million, and the Rest of World was up 11% to $345 million. Again, the revenue discrepancy between regions is notable here. Snapchat has three times more users in the Rest of World market versus EU, so while the revenue numbers between them are close, that doesn’t equate to the same value, while it still generates the vast majority of its intake from the U.S.
Even so, the fact that Snap is seemingly succeeding in deriving more revenue from its key markets, despite no user growth, is also worthy of note.
In the accompanying earnings release, Spiegel said that artificial intelligence has become a significant advantage for the company’s teams and its ad platform.
Snap has also been working to evolve its business offerings, with improved creator partnership opportunities. The company also started pitching its ads to B2B brands.
Snap’s other big opportunity, per Spiegel, is its AR Specs, which launched in September. The $2,200 device is now available for pre-order in the U.S., France and the U.K., though it isn’t being shipped to users just yet.
Snap seems to hope the glasses will bring about new opportunities in advanced digital connection via wearable digital overlays.
But initial data in Snap’s own Q3 report showed that Specs sales haven’t contributed meaningfully to its bottom line yet. In a statement, Snap CFO Doug Hott said that advertising revenue grew 4% and the company’s “Other Revenue grew 84%,” led by Snapchat+, Memories Storage, and Lens+.
To that point, Snap surpassed 30 million subscribers in Q3 across its Snapchat+, Lens+ and Memories Storage options, which contributed to its Other Revenue stream. However, none of the company’s executives mentioned preorder volume for Specs in their prepared statements, which suggests that the glasses haven’t yet played a significant role in the company’s revenue makeup.
Overall, Snap’s third-quarter earnings data showed that the company still has a long way to go in securing its future prospects, and without any insight on the potential market for its AR Specs, it’s impossible to gauge consumer interest or the value of this element.
Subscription growth is relevant, but Snap appears to have a lot of other factors working against it that may impact its future results.
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