Human attention is a finite and hard to capture resource. Snapchat has a lot of it (its users spend a lot of time looking at the app). Advertisers are willing

Human attention is a finite and hard to capture resource. Snapchat has a lot of it (its users spend a lot of time looking at the app). Advertisers are willing to pay a lot of money for people's attention. A lot of people think there will be a big shift in brand advertising away from TV and towards the internet (brand advertising is aimed at general awareness about a brand and forming positive or desirable associations with that brand in people's minds). Snapchat is very well poised to capture a lot of brand advertising money if this shift happens in the next several years. Not only do they have a large, highly-engaged user base, but also brand advertisers are often especially eager to reach younger consumers who are just beginning to form impressions of brands. Of course, there are a lot of "if"s in all of that. But they do have a clear path to bringing in massive revenue if everything goes well.