Snapchat+ crosses 1 million paid subscribers; adds new premium features

Snapchat+, the paid version of the social media app Snapchat, has crossed over one million paying subscribers in about six weeks since its debut in June 2022, the company announced on August 15.

Snapchat parent Snap Inc, however, noted that this subscriber base doesn't include India where the paid service was rolled out last week.

Snapchat+ is currently available in 25 countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.

Targeted at Snapchat's power users, the subscription unlocks a collection of exclusive, experimental, and pre-release features on the social media app for a monthly fee of Rs 49 (in India) or $3.99 (Remaining markets).

Starting today, Snap said that it will add four more paid features to the service such as Priority Story Replies (Your replies will be made more visible to prominent creators and verified public figures, which the company calls as Snap Stars); Post View Emoji (The ability to pick an emoji you want friends to see after they view your Snaps); new Bitmoji backgrounds; and new custom app icons.

Priority Story Replies (Image Source: Snap Inc)

The expansion of Snapchat+ comes at a time when the social media firm is looking to diversify its revenues beyond advertising. Snap's advertising business has been severely impacted by Apple's recent privacy changes in its iOS operating system along with reduced advertiser spends due to the economic downturn.

The rising competition for ad dollars is also affecting Snap's revenue growth as the company posted its slowest-ever quarterly sales growth as a public company in the quarter ended June 2022.

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.

In a letter to investors in July 2022, Snap had said that it was excited about the long-term potential of Snapchat+ to deliver "compelling experiences for the most passionate members of our community".