Snapchat+ Reaches 25 Million Subscribers

Snapchat has announced a new milestone for its Snapchat+ subscription offering, with more than 25 million people now signed up to the program, and Snap now generating over $1 billion per year from its non-advertising business.

Which also includes its Lens+ subscription, giving users exclusive access to new AR features, as well as its Memories storage plans. But primarily, this intake is driven by Snapchat+, underlining the value of this add-on offering for Snapchat’s dedicated audience.

As per Snapchat: “Since launching in late 2022, Snapchat+ has become one of the fastest-growing consumer subscription services globally, with subscriber growth every quarter. What started as an early-access program for our most engaged Snapchatters has quickly scaled into a meaningful business – one that now represents a strong and growing revenue stream alongside our ads business.”

Indeed, Snapchat+ has clearly been the most successful of the new wave of social subscription offerings, though Meta Verified has also seen strong take-up (Meta hasn’t provided any official data on this).

But Snapchat, with its package of user-aligned add-on tools, has clearly tapped into a valuable opportunity, using its audience nous to build add-on tools that users want to pay for, and enhance the Snapchat experience.

And Snapchat definitely needs to diversify its revenue intake.

Snapchat’s growth has stalled in both the U.S. and EU markets, which could suggest that it’s reached saturation point, and will have trouble expanding its user base beyond this core audience. Snap also still has a challenge in keeping older users coming back, with the app remaining a young user platform, that doesn’t see strong retention as people age up.

With that in mind, Snapchat needs to maximize the revenue opportunities that it has, as opposed to relying on expanded reach. And it has done this, with new ad options like Sponsored Snaps, which bring promotions into the Snap inbox.

But there’s only so much ads that Snap can push in front of its users, so it also needs to consider other opportunities.

Snapchat+ subscription are one consideration, while it also has its coming Specs AR glasses, which it’s hoping will maintain its relevance as a key platform in the evolving AR race.

Though Specs will have a significant challenger, in Meta’s AI glasses, with Meta also looking to launch its own AR version in 2027, and with Apple also looking to build another AR device, it will be difficult for Snap to make significant money out of Specs, at least in the short term.

Which leaves Snapchat+ as a critical opportunity, and with $1 billion per year in Snapchat+ revenue, it has become a valuable means to maximize the audience that it has, and complement its ad business.