Making AI Headlines · Page 7
Snap Turns Playful Effects Into a Very Serious Subscription Count
· New York time
Snap says it has more than 30 million paid subscribers across Snapchat+ and other plans. The milestone shows a substantial audience willing to pay for added features on a service associated with casual communication and visual play. AI-powered effects are part of the appeal for power users, according to Engadget. The count covers several paid plans, so it should not be read as the number of people paying specifically for one AI effect. What it does show is the scale of Snap's subscription business across those offerings. For a platform, a recurring payment changes the economics of a familiar activity. A feature used for a moment of entertainment can help support a continuing relationship with a subscriber. That makes the apparently frivolous business of altering a picture a matter of considerable interest to a company reporting its results. There is something fitting about the contrast. The user gets a playful way to change an image; the company gets a number that can be presented with a straight face. Thirty million subscriptions are a reminder that a feature does not have to look solemn to become a serious business.
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