Tech

Facebook's Instagram Stories crushes Snapchat with 250 million daily active users

Key Points
  • Instagram Stories now has 250 million daily active users as of June
  • Its main competitor Snap just has 166 million daily active users, as of its last earnings report in May
Instagram Stories crushes Snapchat with 250 million daily active users
VIDEO0:4400:44
Instagram Stories crushes Snapchat with 250 million daily active users

Instagram Stories is now at 250 million daily active users, vastly surpassing Snapchat's rate according to Facebook's global head of sales Carolyn Everson.

"If you think about it a year ago when we sat together, Instagram Stories didn't exist," Everson told CNBC. "Today on the platform, we not only have 250 million people using it, but actually a third (of the most viewed stories) are businesses using Instagram Stories and one million are advertisers."

Instagram added Stories in August 2016, which allows users to post disappearing stories for a 24-hour period eerily similar to Snapchat's capabilities. By January, the feature had 150 million daily active users.

"Our user growth for stories is actually coming at the explosive growth for Instagram overall," Everson said. "Instagram is now at 700 million people globally."

Stories first reported passing Snapchat in April, when it announced it had 200 million daily active users.

Facebook's Everson on brand safety
VIDEO4:3804:38
Facebook's Everson on brand safety

Snap said its platform has 166 million daily active users during its last earnings report in May. Snap shares declined about 3 percent after the new Instagram Stories daily active user numbers were announced.

Everson dismissed the copycat allegations, saying Facebook invented the Feed format which Instagram and other competitors current utilize. People and businesses like the Stories format, she said.

"We think Stories is also another format that not only consumers but advertisers use," she said. "You are going to see Stories in a lot of different platforms."

- Reporting by Sally Shin and Julia Boorstin.

Watch: Facebook this analyst's FAANG pick

Facebook is this analyst's FAANG pick
VIDEO2:1102:11
Facebook is this analyst's FAANG pick