Snapchat’s new subscription service ‘Snapchat+’ is officially live, allowing users to pay a monthly fee to gain access to some new features.“Today we’re starting to roll out Snapchat+, a collection of exclusive, experimental, and pre-release features available in Snapchat for $3.99USD/month. This subscription will allow us to deliver new Snapchat features to some of the most passionate members of our community and allow us to provide prioritized support.” Snapchat announced via their website.Some of the exclusive features revealed so far include:
- Pin a contact as your best friend (or ‘#1 BFF’ as it’s presented)
- A counter on how many times someone has watched your story
- Custom app icons
- Improved data insights
- Prioritized support
Marketers collectively breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered that Snapchat had no plans to use the new subscription model to phase out paid advertising on the platform.SVP of Product at Snapchat, Jacob Andreou, told The Verge in an interview that the subscription is geared toward “people who spend most of their time communicating with their closest friends on Snap” and confirms that “ads are going to be at the core of our business model for the long term.”So no need to throw your paid Snapchat strategy out the window - just yet. While it is completely possible that Snap is exploring a revenue stream to eventually draw back from relying on paid advertising on the platform, it is highly unlikely considering the $3.1 billion (USD) they generated in 2021.If competing platform replicas of this model are anything to go by, Snapchat might also be in for a slow climb here. The most notable comparison is Twitter’s subscription-based add-on ‘Twitter Blue’ which has seen slow returns since in launch in 2021.So can Snapchat see success with a subscription model? They are no doubt a different beast to Twitter and have proven to have a very loyal customer base over the years, so while it is hard to predict success, the potential is certainly there.Snapchat+ is now available in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
