Snapchat+ users rise to seven million in sign of demand for its new AI features
SNAP said it now has seven million subscribers for its Snapchat+ offering, which gives users early or exclusive access to features on its social media app, including artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
That’s up from five million users in September for the service, which launched in July 2022. Snap is aiming for 10 million users in the “medium term”, the company has said.
Snap has been using the service to roll out early access to new features and improve them based on user feedback. The company initially launched its AI chatbot to those premium customers, for instance. It’s part of a broader effort to drum up new money-making opportunities amid slowing revenue growth from ad sales.
The revenue from subscribers also helps offset the cost of development of experimental technology at a time where Snap has cut back on most ventures that do not make money for the business.
Most recently, Snap has given its subscribers the ability to use its AI tool to create images from text prompts to send to friends, to expand existing real pictures with AI assumptions of what else should be in the image, and to put friends together in images in fantastical settings.
The company charges US$3.99 a month for the service in most of its markets. With seven million users, that would bring in more than US$330 million a year, based on Bloomberg calculations. Analysts expect US$4.6 billion in total annual revenue for 2023.
Snapchat+ is the company’s main bet for generating revenue beyond advertising. Earlier this year, it ended efforts to sell augmented reality clothing try-on technology to retailers and shuttered that business unit, called ARES. BLOOMBERG
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