A few months ago, Snapchat rolled out its first attempt at monetizing without ads. Snapchat+ took the App Store by storm, earning a whopping $6,000,000 in net revenue in a month!
Revenue dropped the following month, even though Snapchat+ is a subscription, but was that a trend or a fluke?
Now, five months after that rollout, we have enough data to answer the question.
I'm pretty sure the best answer here is "a little bit of both".
After revenue dropped by more than 21% in August, a month after the launch, it started climbing.
Slow, at first, but both revenue and growth rate have been climbing, and in November, were the highest so far!
According to our estimates, revenue from Snapchat+ grew more than 8% in November, double the growth rate of October. In more absolute numbers, net revenue was $5.6M, the highest post-launch and not that far off from launch month.
At this rate, it'll probably hit, and then cross, launch month numbers, by January.
I joked that no one would want to pay Snapchat to be a beta tester but clearly having early access to features is a nice status symbol enough are willing to pay for, even while the economy isn't at its best.
Which I see as good news for app makers. Focus on building and don't let the news bring you down.
December saw a curious split: downloads dropped 2% while revenue sat at $1.3B. ChatGPT and TikTok dominated both charts as the mobile industry enters a new maturity phase.
Wall Street bet $2 billion on Polymarket, and downloads surged 1,172% in December. The prediction market banned in 2022 is now where Wall Street looks for signals.