According to trends outlined in a new report from the market intelligence experts at SimilarWeb, Snapchat could find itself outpacing Instagram in the near future. Interestingly, the assessment is ultimately derived from three key metrics but it would be easy to dismiss the conclusion if only the install rate over the course of the last year were taken into consideration. As shown by SimilarWeb’s report, Instagram led by nearly 20-percent over that entire time frame. However, looking past that number to also include the downloads from February 2017 through January reveals a different story. With the exception of last September and this January, Snapchat has consistently garnered more app downloads than its leading competitor in the mobile photo-sharing social space. In fact, in November, as shown in the charts below, the difference was nearly 2.3 million downloads. Meanwhile, active downloads for both are up well-above some other social networks but Snapchat comes out on top there as well. While Instagram experienced a 61-percent growth in active users, Snapchat pulled off a 94-percent growth rate.
Yet another metric which seems to show Snapchat gaining the upper hand can be seen in the age distribution for users of either platform. Instagram has an obvious lead for users who are 35 or older but things quickly turn south for the company where younger users are concerned. 31.4-percent of Instagrams users come from that older age demographic compared to Snapchat’s 21.7-percent. On the other hand, Snapchat takes more than 40-percent of its users from those falling between the ages of for those 18 and 24. For Instagram, that number is down around 31-percent. What those numbers seem to indicate is not so much that Instagram attracts a more mature crowd. Unless those users eventually move over to Instagram when they turn 25, Snapchat’s gains are arguably going to be for the long-term when compared to Instagram’s.
It bears mention that there is always a chance that the fortunes of either company will shift and completely defy the current course SimilarWeb sees these two companies going. In fact, it may be just as likely that these forms of social media eventually win the day against the current category leaders. In the meantime, at very least, Snapchat appears to be doing a fine job of holding its own.