Snapchat Users Ignore Publishers & Ads

Survey data from customer acquisition solution Fluent reveals that publishers using Snapchat are having a hard time attracting an audience to consume their content (and, of course, their advertising). 

While publishers are actually quite common on Snapchat (CNN, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times each have a presence), Fluent data revealed that 61 percent of those surveyed said they did not follow a news organization on the platform.

It's not just news publishers that are being ignored either with 50 percent of survey respondents indicating they do not follow sports publishers (such as ESPN, NBA or NFL) or entertainment publishers (The Daily Mail or E!). 

Perhaps worst of all, however, is that Snapchat users are ignoring ads. Fluent's data indicates that 60 percent said they "always" or "often" skip ads on the application, spiking to 80 percent for those in the 18-24 year-old demographic.

One of the problems really might just be that Snapchat is so new in its model that advertisers metrics haven't evolved to keep pace. Snapchat is about brief, exclusive, engaging content and it is possible that publishers (and advertisers) are simply struggling to optimize their presence within that community.