It’s not going to make much of a dent to offset Snap’s stalling ad business, but the company is touting that it has signed up more than 1 million subscribers for Snapchat+, its service that provides exclusive access to pre-release and experimental features.
Snapchat+ hit the one-million mark a little over six weeks after launching the $3.99-per-month service at the end of June.
On Monday, Snap is introducing four new features for Snapchat+: priority Story replies, making your replies will be more visible to Snap Stars; post-view emoji, letting you select an emoji friends will see after they view your Snaps; new Bitmoji backgrounds (pictured above), like gleaming gold or a beach paradise; and new app icons to replace the default Snapchat app icon on your homescreen (pictured below).
Those are in addition to the seven features in Snapchat+: ghost trails on the map (to see where your friends who share their location with you have been in the last 24 hours); best friends forever (pin your No. 1 BFF); Story rewatch indicator; custom app icons/themes; a Snapchat+ badge; friend solar system (see a “Best Friends” badge on someone’s Friendship Profile, which means you’re one of each other’s eight closest friends, or a “Friends” badge which means you’re one of their eight closest friends, but they’re not one of yours); and the ability to access Snapchat messaging functions on the web.
Snapchat+ is now available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, India, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, Finland and Austria.
Note that the number of Snapchat+ subscribers is well under 1% of the app’s total user base. Snapchat had 347 million average daily active users in the second quarter, up 15 million sequentially and topping its previous forecast for DAU net adds. But Snap missed Q2 earnings expectations, which the company attributed in large part to slowing advertising demand because of macroeconomic factors. Snap is reportedly planning a wave of layoffs to cut costs.