Snap Inc has extended the paid version of its service Snapchat+ to India, as the social media firm looks to better monetise its over 100 million user base in the country.
The subscription, which unlocks a collection of exclusive, experimental, and pre-release features targeted at power users, will be available for a monthly fee of Rs 49. It includes the recently launched Snapchat for Web that lets users chat with their friends through video calls.
"India is an important market for Snap and investments in localising the app experience has been key to our growth in the region. We’re very excited about offering exclusive, experimental, and pre-release features to our Indian Snapchatter community who is eager to try our new products and features," said Lakshya Malu, Interim- Market Development Lead, Snap Inc.
At launch, the service will offer features such as the ability to change app icons; view who has rewatched your stories; pin one of your friends to the top of your chats as your "#1 BFF"; see where your friends, who share their location with you, have been in the last 24 hours; and a black star badge next to your display name among others.
Read: Snapchat's India expansion efforts is guiding our community growth in new markets: Evan Spiegel
The rollout comes more than a month after the social media firm debuted the service for a monthly fee of $3.99 in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates in June.
"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" the company had said at the time.
Snap Inc is looking to diversify its revenues after its advertising business was severely impacted by Apple's recent privacy changes in its iOS operating system. Reduced advertiser spends due to the economic downturn and rising competition for ad dollars are also affecting revenue growth.
Snap posted its slowest ever quarterly sales growth as a public company on July 21, 2022. It reported revenues of $1.11 billion for the second quarter of 2022, a 13 percent growth year-over-year (YoY). Net loss widened to $422 million for the quarter, a significant jump from a $152-million loss in the same quarter of the previous year.
The user growth, however, remained robust, with the daily active user base growing to 347 million, a year-on-year increase of 54 million, or 18 percent.
"We are focused on cultivating new models that leverage privacy-safe signals in order to deliver the optimal ad to the optimal Snapchatter at the optimal moment," Snap wrote in a letter to investors.
The company also said that it was excited about the long-term potential of Snapchat+ to deliver "compelling experiences for the most passionate members of our community".
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