Snapchat quietly kills in-app purchase option

More face swaps are in, in-app purchases are out on Snapchat.

Tucked away in last night’s update that expands its popular face swapping option to include the ability to let people switch faces with their photo roll, Snapchat ditched its latest monetization of selling replays. Now users can replay snaps for free.

Seven months is a long enough time to figure out that people didn’t want to pay upwards of $4.99 to re-watch friends’ goofy snaps. At its launch last September, Snapchat acknowledged that selling replays for few bucks a pop was lame, writing in its blog that it’s a “little pricey — but time is money!”

 

Snapchat’s proven adept at attracting ad dollars from big brands, many with a serious case of FOMO. But like most media businesses these days, it’s exploring ways to get people to pay up directly. So far, the results aren’t good.

It only took two months before Snapchat shelved its lens store in January, asking people to pay 99 cents apiece for the animated photo filters. “No one is going to buy those filters, losers,” a user said at the time, following a parade of vocal responses from users, again, saying they weren’t going to fork over money. One bright spot: the app’s geofilter store that lets users design filters and activate over certain areas for a set amount of time has been an early success with companies, parties and colleges using them.

Snapchat didn’t immediately respond for comment.

https://digiday.com/?p=174167

More in Media

In Graphic Detail: How podcasts are earning their spot in the premium ad tier

Podcast data from a new report by Sounds Profitable shows how consumers view podcasts as more memorable and trustworthy than other media.

IAB Tech Lab unveils plans to bolster publisher monetization in the AI era

LLM Content Ingest API Initiative proposes framework for publisher compensation by LLMs and AI agents, while Containerization Project addresses emerging programmatic challenges. 

Roblox faces growing pains as marketers start to demand more ad transparency

Roblox ad measurement continues to be a challenge for some advertisers, who are concerned over Roblox’s lack of third-party measurement tools.