Snapchat Is Growing Up

Snapchat’s rise to fame over the past few years can be attributed almost entirely to its immense popularity among young smartphone users who found in it a new virtual playground after their parents had caught up with them on Facebook.

And while anecdotal evidence gathered by the author of these lines suggests that Snapchat is still a big mystery to many people past their 30th birthday, new data from comScore points in a different direction. According to the company’s latest “Cross-Platform Future in Focus” report, the age composition of Snapchat’s audience is quickly shifting towards older users. In December 2016, people aged 35 and older accounted for 46 percent of Snapchat’s adult user base in the United States, up from just 24 percent a year earlier.

While it needs to be noted that comScore’s analysis doesn’t include users below the age of 18, one thing seems clear: silver surfers are no longer avoiding Snapchat at all costs, a trend that could make the platform even more attractive to advertisers but also less appealing to the young internet crowd.