Snap recorded 57 per cent growth in revenue year-on-year during Q3, but CEO Evan Spiegel (pictured) pointed the finger at recently implemented privacy changes in iOS as a disruptive factor in its advertising business which is expected to keep bringing headwinds in the current quarter.

On an earnings call, Spiegel claimed changes to advert tracking rolled out in June and July made it difficult for the company’s advertisers to measure and manage their campaigns for iOS.

“While we anticipated some degree of business disruption, the new Apple-provided measurement solution did not scale as we had expected.”

Macroeconomic effects of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic also made an impact due to supply chain interruptions and labour shortages which the company said resulted in advertisers reducing their “short-term appetite to generate additional customer demand through advertising at a time when their businesses are already supply-constrained”.

However, Snap offered assurances around working on tools and measurement options for its advertisers.

Financials
Snap booked revenue of $1.1 billion and its net loss was 64 per cent down to $72 million. Daily active user base rose 23 per cent to 306 million.

It expects revenue of between $1.16 billion and $1.2 billion in the current quarter.

The company repeatedly warned of an impact from Apple’s update, which allows iOS users to opt out of cross-app tracking for advertising purposes.

Facebook and Google have also been wary regarding a similar impact on their respective advertising gains.