New Snapchat Research Yields Insights Into Its Moviegoing Users' Habits

There's a lot of decision-making involved in moviegoing beyond picking the film and choosing whether to see it with friends, family or a significant other. From which snacks to buy beforehand to where to have dinner afterward, it’s an area ripe with data—and one that Snapchat has tapped into with its newest study. Part of the company’s ongoing “Retail Footprints” series, the study looks at the behaviors of "the moviegoing Snapchatter" versus either a regular Snapchat user or even a nonuser. The data, collected between July 1 and November 30, 2018, highlights nuggets of insights of interest to marketers and advertisers, like the fact that some movie-loving Snapchatters visit a park or, surprisingly, a party-supply store before or after a film. "What we can glean from the data is that moviegoing Snapchatters are more likely to have a propensity to spend on entertainment and shopping," said Amy Moussavi, global consumer insights lead at Snapchat. "Not only do we see a strong overlap between moviegoers and the Snapchat community; we're also seeing that the footfall of these moviegoing Snapchatters is highly correlated with box-office results." The study shows that Snapchatters tend to go to the movies at the end of the day, with peak attendance at 7 p.m. Most go on Saturday—with a spike on Tuesday due to several chains offering discounted tickets, like AMC’s $5 deal. This user group also tends to go to the movies at least once a month. [kickout id="1"] [kickout id="2"] The richest data, however, relates to where Snapchatters go pre- and post-movie. Before catching a flick, they're likely to go to a park, a farmer's market or a party-supply store. Afterward, they’re inclined toward bowling, visiting an arcade or going to a brewery or nice restaurant. This audience tends to skew twice as much toward family activities, compared to the average Snapchatter. They are also 2.5 times more likely to shop for toys, 2.3 times more likely to go to theme parks and 2.2 times more likely to visit department stores. Moussavi said these findings, coupled with Snapchat's joint study with the NRG that found Snapchatters make up "36 percent of all moviegoers and 50 percent of all ticket purchases in the U.S.," make the argument that studios could consider targeting this set of Snapchatters by their "niche interests." [kickout id="3"] Despite Snapchat's rotating C-suite, the company's latest earnings report was somewhat positive. The company's revenue grew year over year, with this past quarter reaching $389.8 million compared to $285.7 million in 2017. And while its daily active user growth is flat, with only 186 million users, Evan Spiegel said on the earnings call that monthly, Snapchat now reaches 70 percent of the 13- to 34-year-old U.S. population with its mobile video ads.