The daily numbers for Snapchat's Discover section should worry publishers (SNAP)

Evan Spiegel

Only 20% of Snapchat users on average consumed content from a publisher's Discover edition daily.
The Daily Beast found that Discover usage peaked on July 24 with 38 million daily active users — a fraction of its overall user base of 178 million daily active users.
The numbers are likely to be hit further when Snapchat rolls out its redesign more widely.

More than 40 media companies curate digital editions of their publications in the hopes of appealing to a millennial audience on Snapchat Discover on a regular basis. But their efforts seem to be going in vain, based on data obtained by The Daily Beast.

Only 20% of Snapchat users on average consumed content from a publisher's Discover edition daily, based on the data reviewed by Daily Beast reporter Taylor Lorenz. The data encompasses five months of confidential daily active user (DAU) metrics on Discover, among other Snapchat features, between April and September 2017.

Usage peaked on July 24 with 38 million daily active users accessing a Discover edition, the publication reported. But this number makes up a fraction — just 21% of the Snapchat's overall user base of 178 million daily active users. Snapchat doesn't share specific DAU metrics for sections of the app like Discover.

Snapchat launched the Discover section back in January 2015. It serves as Snapchat's content hub, where big media partners such as Daily Mail, BuzzFeed and The New York Times program daily digital magazines with dozens of videos, articles, and quizzes.

But of late, the platform seems to be losing steam. Publishers like CNN and Comedy Central have both pulled back on Discover in recent months. CNN's decision to scale back on content was initially prompted by a move to focus on producing shows on Snapchat. But it also axed its show "The Update" at the end of 2017.

Publishers — already wary about Snapchat moving away from the original 'digital magazine' concept that underpinned Discover towards shows — are now contending with another reality.

Not only are the numbers a concern, but Snapchat is also about to roll out a widespread redesign. The revamp splits the Discover portion of the app from users’ Stories, which some worry will hamper daily usage more sharply, further damaging Snapchat’s ad revenue.

Business Insider reached out to several Discover publishers for comment but hadn't heard back from them at the time of publication.

Snap declined to comment for the story.

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