Snapchat’s subscription service for its most dedicated users continues to grow. Snapchat+, the premium service that offers fans exclusive features, has more than 5 million paying subscribers, Snap announced Thursday.
The milestone comes after the service, which launched last June, crossed 3 million sign-ups in April. That’s still just a fraction of the 750 million people who use Snapchat each month, but it’s a significant number for the company, which has been looking to boost non-advertising sources of revenue. As Bloomberg points out, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has said his “medium-term goal” is to reach 10 million paying users.
Snapchat has used generative AI tools and other exclusive features to lure users to signing up for the $4-a-month service. When the company first introduced its MyAI chatbot and, more recently, its generative AI selfie feature, the tools were initially limited to paying subscribers. Other perks, like the ability to check how many times friends view your Story and exclusive Bitmoji customizations, are meant to appeal to power users.
The relative success of Snapchat+ stands in contrast to X Premium (formerly known as Twitter Blue), which Elon Musk has made a centerpiece of his strategy to revitalize the embattled social media company’s business. X has not formally released subscriber counts, but one researcher, speaking to Mashable, recently estimated the number to be less than one million.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/snapchat-grows-to-5-million-subscribers-182531075.html?src=rss