[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Meet The Snapchat Team In Saudi Aabia" ids="141575,141576,141577,141578"]
By Mariam Nihal
Saudi Gazette
The Snapchat team was here and much like their app, they continue mesmerize. The team maintained a very low-profile during their visit but promised to come back. "As of today, we have seven million daily active users on Snapchat from Saudi Arabia which is incredible and it is one of our most important markets," Ben Schwerin, VP of Partnerships for Snap, Inc told Saudi Gazette. UAE is a close second with a million daily active users.
"Juan and I started partnerships and business development together," he added. The two were joined by Noah Edwardsen, from Corporate Communications.
"We are here to listen to what people want to say and listen to their ideas," Juan David Borrero, the Senior Partnerships Manager at Snapchat said.
Discussing the significance of content created by Saudi users, the Snapchat team lauded local creativity and results. "The content has been incredible from Saudi Arabia be it from Makkah, Riyadh or even the Saudi Pro League," Schwerin told Saudi Gazette. Snapchat is rated as the favorite social networking app and most-used app on a daily basis by young Saudis.
The coverage of the Saudi Professional League this season reached over 4 million Snapchatters in Saudi Arabia, over 85% of which are 13 to 34 years old.
Talking about their partnering stragegy when it comes to the selective options and chosen editorial voices, Schwerin said scarcity is as important as quality. "When we launched in the US, we only had 11 partners. We really wanted to present great content and build loyalty. So if you wanted Comedy you could go to Comedy Central and so on. We think that is the right strategy for us, which is not having a 100 partners but it is having a small number that are great and have very strong editorial voices. So that is going to be our strategy in every market." He said localising content is important to Snapchat, "but to roll that out in a thoughtful way. Doing that in the Middle East is something we are very interested in."
Snapchat stats:
Over 158 million Daily Active Users around the world, more than half of whom are outside the US
Over 7 million Daily Active Users in Saudi Arabia
Over 1 million Daily Active Users in UAE
Over 2.5 billion Snaps are created every day
More than 60% of Daily Active Users use their camera to create content every day
The Snapchat community spends an average of 25 to 30 minutes on Snapchat every day
Introducing World Lenses
Snap Inc. has introduced its trademark camera lenses over a year and a half ago. Users were able to become puppies, wear flower crowns and face swap with anybody by a simple tap on their screen. Now, Snap Inc. has introduced a new range of 3D lenses for the rear camera, called “World Lenses”. These lenses can be accessed by tapping the screen while Snapping with the rear-facing camera to cycle through available World Lenses. This new feature gives users the ability to express themselves even more by adding 3D content to their regular, everyday life. Just like the older lenses, Snap Inc. will be regularly updating the 3D World Lenses with new and exciting content on a daily basis. Stay tuned!
Snap Inc. is a camera company.
We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Our products empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.
People love Snapchat because it’s a fun and natural way to talk with their closest friends, and watch curated, made-for-mobile content about what’s happening across the world. We believe people are fundamentally creative, which is why when you open Snapchat the first thing you see is the camera.
