Snapchat parent looks to attract India Gen Z users with localised experiences: India MD Pulkit Trivedi

As the overall internet smartphone penetration grows, Snapchat has the potential to grow its user base to a more sizable number, Trivedi said.

A key effort towards localisation is building augmented reality (AR) experiences through localised lenses that appear on the Snapchat Camera.

Trivedi said that nearly 80 percent of users in India interact with Snapchat lenses on a daily basis, and the usage further spikes during festive months. Snapchat claims its users in India have engaged with AR lenses over 50 billion times a month.

The company recently rolled out a Holi Lens allowing users to virtually color somebody in real time, just in time for the Holi festival. Trivedi said they plan to capitalise on similarly festive occasions, such as Pongal, Eid, and Diwali, to offer relevant lenses to users in a bid to drive AR adoption in the country.

Local content has been another key factor fueling Snapchat's growth in the country. "India has seen one of the fastest growing content consumption metrics as far as Snapchat is concerned. We have more than tripled our content consumption time in the last two years, largely driven by Spotlight," Trivedi said.

Spotlight is Snapchat's answer to short video services, such as TikTok and Instagram Reels, showcasing user-generated short-form video content to consumers in a vertical video feed within the Snapchat app.

What's different, however, is that the content that appears in the feed is moderated and doesn't allow for public comments. Users can submit their Snaps to Spotlight but they will have to adhere to the company's content guidelines to appear on the feed.

About 120 million of Snapchat's 200 million users in India are consuming content across its Stories and Spotlight formats, the company said.

Boosting developer ecosystem

Snap is also investing significant efforts in building a thriving developer ecosystem in India since the country has one of the largest pools of AR developers.

"We are building an outreach program in India to encourage more developers to build lenses that can be used by users, businesses, and brands on the platform in India and across the world," Trivedi said.

These efforts are part of the company's monetisation push in India, as it looks to woo more brands to create AR-driven experiences to engage with Gen-Z consumers and boost product sales.

For instance, Walmart-owned fashion and lifestyle e-commerce platform Myntra launched an AR filter on Snapchat in February that allowed people to virtually try on the sneakers. If people liked any of the products, they were directed to the Myntra app to purchase them.

"We see a lot of adjacencies between commerce and advertising and India is home to a huge potential for growth in both sectors. Given that our app is very visual in nature, I think there is a big opportunity for us to bring commerce experiences alive" Trivedi said.

Highlighting the digital advertising opportunity in India, Trivedi said that India's digital AdEx (advertising expenditure) has grown to about $10 billion today and it will likely more than double to $20 billion to $25 billion in the next 5-10 years, making the country the third or the fourth largest market in the world.

Trivedi's comments, however, come at a time when Snap is grappling to rebound from a downturn in the global digital advertising market. In the past year or so, the company has taken various cost-cutting measures including slashing a significant chunk of its workforce and scrapping several projects, such as Snap Originals, Minis, Games, and Pixy besides winding down standalone apps Zenly and Voisey.

In a letter to investors in February 2024, Snap announced plans to shift more of its focus towards user growth and deepening engagement in its most highly monetizable geographies, including North America and Europe.

"We believe that focusing on these initiatives will help us increase daily active usage of Snapchat, deepen content engagement, improve performance for advertisers, and ultimately accelerate revenue growth and drive increased Free Cash Flow," the company said.

Trivedi, however, said that India is one of the few countries where the tech major is still hiring people since Snap's global leadership continues to see a lot of opportunity in the country.

"That's why, if you really see, we are investing in India. We have doubled our team size (in India) and we are now present across Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru" he said.

In August 2023, Snap unveiled a new localised operating structure in India while announcing the appointment of Trivedi.

As per the structure, Snap's local teams including growth, market development, partnerships, content, and creator ecosystem teams in India report directly to Trivedi, who reports to Ajit Mohan, the company's president for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.