Snap said today that its Snapchat+ paid plan has more than 3 million users. At the Snap Partner Summit event, the company added that Verizon users will have the option to purchase Snapchat+ subscriptions through the carrier’s subscription store called +play in the coming days.
The company launched the paid tier last June and expanded it to multiple regions over the following months. Snap hit the 1 million subscriber mark last August and the 2 million subscriber mark in February, indicating steady growth.
And yet, 3 million subscribers still represent less than 1% of the platform’s 375 million daily active users.
Snapchat has added a number of new features in recent months, such as custom notification sounds, story expiration controls, customizable chat backgrounds, and a gift-giving option. It has also promised that paid users will be able to freeze their Snap Streaks.
The company has additionally focused on offering generative AI features to subscribers. In February, it launched My AI chatbot for Snapchat+ users. Following complaints about the bot posting inappropriate comments, the company announced new security tools around the AI ​​bot earlier this month. In recent weeks, Snap has also introduced a feature that allows subscribers to generate a wallpaper through text prompts.
As the company makes My AI bot available to all Snapchat users, it said Snapchat+ users will get a feature later this year where the bot will reply to them with a visual Snap – essentially generating an image based on the conversation.
According to Abe Yousef, senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower, the company has made $80 million from in-app purchases — this figure also includes an estimated $1 million from other purchases like filters — since the launch of Snapchat+. Yousef noted that 57% of Snapchat+ subscribers are from the US, 10% from the UK, and 5% each from Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Canada.
By comparison, Snap posted annual revenue of $4.6 billion in 2022. So right now, subscriptions represent a fraction of the company’s revenue.
With the addition of Snapchat+ to Verizon’s +play store, Verizon customers get three months of free subscription service when they sign up. Snap’s service is the first of its kind on +play, which focuses largely on streaming service subscriptions. The store now offers services from more than 30 other streaming, entertainment, lifestyle and education service partners.
+play is available to all Verizon mobile, 5G Home, and LTE Home Internet customers.
