Abraham Yousef · November 2024
Social Media App Advertising, User Growth and Engagement Trends in 3Q24
Despite Meta exceeding top and bottom line growth expectations in 3Q24, it lagged behind YouTube and Reddit in growing app user engagement, as both posted double-digit YoY growth in 3Q24 hours engaged per day, according to Sensor Tower estimates. Meta highlighted an effort to expand the video format on Facebook to allow for a full screen experience, which could boost engagement with short-form video.
Key Takeaways:
Meta’s reported 3Q24 worldwide and US CAN advertising revenue increased 19% and 16% YoY, respectively, in line with 16% YoY growth in ST’s US ads per session metric for Facebook
During its 3Q24 earnings call, CFO Susan Li flagged that Meta has undertaken a concerted strategic effort to revamp Facebook’s video player to allow for a full screen format, which will build on the company’s ongoing efforts to unify and integrate Reels within video on Facebook. Per ST data, US Facebook user time spent on Reels in Sep’24 increased 14ppts vs Jan’24, equating to millions of engagement hours shifting to the surface over the period in which Meta’s unification efforts began
While Reels made up 25% of US Facebook user time spent in Sep’24, it made up a much smaller portion of ad volume across the entirety of 3Q24 at nearly 11%, vs 67% for the Main Feed. This could suggest that advertisers on Facebook have been slower to fully adopt the medium into their media mix
Potentially driven by continued popularity of its short-form video feature, Shorts, ST data shows that YouTube’s YoY growth in global total hours engaged per day accelerated in 3Q24 to 12% vs 9% in 2Q24, while competitors such as Reddit (-8ppts), Instagram (-7ppts), Facebook (-3ppts), TikTok (-1ppts), Snapchat (-1ppts) and Pinterest (-1ppts) saw slight decelerations in YoY growth
Per ST data, Snap (+8%) saw higher levels of YoY DAU growth than any of its peers in 3Q24, save for Reddit (+22%), which benefited from an uptick in consumer interest stemming from ongoing content translation efforts in geos outside of the US. YouTube (+7%), Pinterest (+6%), Instagram (+4%) and Facebook (+3%) DAUs all increased single-digits YoY in 3Q24, while TikTok DAUs remained largely flat
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