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.
-
‘We’re out there hitting the pavement’: Ad management firms scoop up sites ahead of cookie changes
Ad management platforms such as Cafe Media and Freestar have collectively gobbled up the rights to thousands of sites' ad inventory.
-
Browser makers, now including Mozilla’s Firefox, are already ditching Google’s proposed cookieless ad targeting method FLoC
Google's cohort-based tracking needs browser support to work, but browsers like Brave and Microsoft Edge can easily block its functionality.
-
Cheat Sheet: What a ‘radical’ GOP antitrust bill that would kill big tech acquisitions has in common with the Democrats’ push for reform
Bipartisan momentum behind Sen. Josh Hawley’s antitrust bill is likely to be tepid, but it could spur more dialogue on anti-competitive behavior in an tech-ruled era.
-
SponsoredVideo: How employer rewards and incentives changed in 2020
The nature of employer rewards programs has transformed, accelerated by the events of 2020 — a year of sweeping change. Employees shifted to digital, their preferences moved to digital wallets and they asked for new and surprising ways to use the rewards their employers delivered. In these new interviews, employer rewards experts talk about the evolving […]
-
Member ExclusiveMedia Briefing: How publishers are pushing podcasts to new audiences
Podcast listening has rebounded from an initial pandemic-induced dip. But publishers still have work to do to attract more people to their shows.
-
Los Angeles Times enters crowded daily news podcast market with a West Coast twist
The Los Angeles Times is banking on offering a West Coast twist to daily news podcasting when it debuts its own version next month.
