Specifically, look at the core financial indicators of social media company Snap in the fourth quarter:
Adjusted EPS for the fourth quarter was $0.22, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.11.
Fourth-quarter revenue was $1.30 billion, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $326.8 million, compared to analysts' expectations of $179.4 million.
In the fourth quarter, the number of daily active users was 319 million, and analysts expected 316 million.
The average user revenue for the fourth quarter was $4.06 aRPus, compared with analysts' expectations of $3.79.
At the same time, it also announced the results guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2022:
Revenue is expected to be $1.03-1.08 billion in the first quarter, and analysts expect $1.02 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be around zero in the first quarter, and analysts expect $0.238 million.
Key user data growth is eye-catching, and North America and Europe are the main battlefields
Compared with Meta's key user indicator, the number of daily active users was 1.93 billion, unchanged from the previous quarter. Snap had 319 million daily active users in the fourth quarter, up 54 million or 20% year-on-year compared to the year-ago quarter. Over the past 5 quarters, Snap's daily active users have grown by 20% or more year-over-year. Snap's daily active users in North America, Europe and the rest of the world all achieved sequential and year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter.
At the same time, Snap's ARPU value also reached $4.06, an increase of 18% year-on-year, with the fastest growth in North America and Europe, both reaching more than 30% year-on-year growth, but other regions increased by only 1%.
Apple's privacy policy adjusts advertising business to be hit, recovering "faster than expected"
Like Meta, Snap is also facing the impact of Apple's adjustment of privacy policy, but the earnings report shows that the company made significant progress in the fourth quarter on Apple's platform policy changes. A speech prepared for the conference call by Snap's chief financial officer, Derek Anderson, showed snaps of the advertising business, directly affected by the iOS changes, recovering faster than it expected.
In April last year, Apple adjusted its privacy policy and introduced the ATT (Application Tracking Transparency) feature, which requires users' consent to obtain and process Apple user data. All apps listed on the App Store must comply with this new policy. In December, however, Apple "quietly" relaxed the controversial iPhone privacy policy, allowing many platforms, including Snap and Facebook, to share user information from the iPhone, though only if the data was anonymized and aggregated, not associated with specific user profiles.
Snap previously said it was planning to share data from its 306 million users, including those who asked Snap not to track them, so that advertisers could more fully and real-time track how ads are delivered.
However, Snap said advertisers still face many "headwinds" in the fourth quarter, as the adjustment of the way ads that target users will bring an estimated $10 billion hit to its 2022 revenue. Anderson says the advertising business will still take a few quarters to transition:
It will take at least a few quarters for our advertising partners to build full confidence in our new solution.
Chief Commercial Officer Jeremi Gorman said the sales team is helping advertisers make the transition.
Advertisers who tend to focus on "low funnel goals" such as in-app purchases have been the most affected, and some have migrated to "medium funnel goals" such as installs or clicks, which are more viewable despite changes in iOS policies.
In addition to the headwinds posed by Apple's privacy policy, Anderson said macroeconomic forces such as supply chain disruptions and labor shortages are also affecting advertisers, particularly Snap's brand advertising division.