On Friday, Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) shares sank nearly 30 per cent in premarket trading after the firm’s forecast of zero revenue growth meant more pain ahead for a social media sector heavily dependent on digital advertising.

YouTube-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc, Facebook-parent Meta Platform Inc, and Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) Inc dropped between 2 per cent and 7 per cent. Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) also fell 8 per cent.

It is to be noted that the digital ad space has suffered as brands have slashed marketing and ad budgets in response to falling consumer demand. Now, Snap’s warning has exacerbated the fears.

So far this year, digital ad companies have lost roughly USD 1 trillion in value. Reportedly, these companies are hit by intense competition from TikTok and challenges from Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s privacy changes to its iOS platform that enables users to opt-out of data tracking.

On Thursday, Snap Inc reported its slowest revenue growth as a public company for the quarter and forecasted no revenue growth for the typically busy holiday quarter.

Snap’s stock has lost about 77 per cent of its value so far this year. On the other hand, Alphabet, Meta and Pinterest have lost between 30 per cent and 60 per cent. Twitter, however, has gained 21 per cent on the prospect of Musk buying the company.