Snap Inc. (NASDAQ:SNAP) has shown early success with Snapchat+, a paid membership service that it launched on June 29 and has now attracted 1 million subscribers. Snap advertised the new service as a method to gain access to premium, early-access, and experimental features.
Snapchat’s Users Can Customize Their Experience
The platform has started introducing new features so that customers can personalize their usage. One of the four new features that Snapchat+ recently introduced is the Priority Story Replies function, which allows subscribers to have their messages seen more frequently by celebrities on Snapchat.
Users can add unique backgrounds, such as shining gold and a tropical beach, to their Bitmoji to give it more flair. Additionally, they can choose an emoji they wish their friends to see after viewing Snaps.
The $3.99 monthly subscription cost for Snapchat+ in the U.S. gives customers access to 11 premium features that are not currently available to regular users. These features include, among others, the Story Rewatch Indicator, Friend Solar System, Ghost Trails on the Map, Best Friends Forever (Pin as No. 1 Best Friend), and Snapchat+ Badge.
According to Snap, the paid membership feature is now accessible in 25 countries worldwide, including Saudi Arabia, India, Egypt, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
Snap Added a Feature to Promote User Growth Despite Weak Ad Revenues
In the second quarter, Snapchat had 347 million average daily active users (DAU), exceeding its earlier projection for DAU net additions by 15 million. Snap, however, fell short of analysts’ earnings projections, which the business largely blamed on a downturn in the market for advertising due to macroeconomic issues.
Social media giants Snap, Twitter (NASDAQ:TWTR), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), all of which get the majority of their revenues from selling digital advertising, are dealing with a deteriorating ad market. This is the result of record-high inflation, which is forcing businesses to cut back on their marketing expenditures.
This company apparently plans a wave of layoffs to reduce costs. This development comes following employment cuts and hiring delays at financial, crypto exchange, and IT organizations due to the poor global economic growth brought on by increased interest rates, rising inflation, and a European energy crisis.
The business is concentrating on rolling out many features to keep current users and draw new ones to its platform. In the upcoming weeks, Snapchat will roll out a new feature for all users called the Family Center that will allow parents to monitor who their children are interacting with online.
To increase the appeal of its Snapchat platform to consumers and marketers, Snap has added various features, such as the Tab function on Friends and Discover.
Earlier this year, Snap released a function that allowed users to post YouTube video links owned by Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) using the Snapchat Camera app.
By tapping on the YouTube stickers available in the Snapchat app, users can instantly access the video within Alphabet’s YouTube app or any other mobile browser.
Twitter previously introduced a $4.99 per month membership service called Twitter Blue. Elon Musk, a billionaire, is currently engaged in a legal dispute with Twitter over his effort to back out of his $44 billion purchase agreement for the firm.
The same subscription programs are being tested on Instagram by Meta Platforms, although they are exclusively available to creators. Instagram anticipates that by providing subscribers with access to unique material and advantages, creators will be able to forge closer bonds with their most devoted fans and increase their recurring monthly income.
Featured Image: Megapixl @Cpenler
