Social media giant Snap is testing a paid subscription called Snapchat Plus that would give users access to exclusive features.
“We’re doing early internal testing of Snapchat Plus, a new subscription service for Snapchatters,” a Snap spokesperson told dot.LA in a statement. “We’re excited about the potential to share exclusive, experimental and pre-release features with our subscribers, and learn more about how we can best serve our community.”
Snap’s statement came after app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi shared screenshots and information on Twitter about Snap’s experiments with a paid tier.
The screenshots show how Snapchat Plus could allow subscribers to pin a friend on the app as a “#1 BFF.” Other features could include the ability to see how many friends have rewatched a Snapchat Story and learn of a friend’s whereabouts in the last 24 hours (if that friend has chosen to share their location), according to Paluzzi.
One screenshot showed a listed subscription price for Snapchat Plus of 4.59 euros per month and 45.99 euros per year, or around $4.81 per month and $48.19 per year—though those price tags could just be placeholders. A Snap spokesperson declined to share how much Snapchat Plus would cost subscribers. (Disclosure: Snap is an investor in dot.LA.)
Snap would follow other social media giants—most notably, Twitter’s Twitter Blue product—in offering a subscription with exclusive features and perks for a monthly or annual price.
Adding a subscription tier would provide Snap with a new revenue stream as the company grapples with a challenging digital advertising market. Snap—which currently generates virtually all of its revenue from ads—warned investors last month that it’s expecting lower-than-expected revenues and profits this quarter.
The company has blamed economic headwinds like inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the underwhelming results and is also still navigating Apple’s new privacy policy, which restricts how users are tracked on its mobile devices.
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