Snapchat fans are increasingly purchasing custom geofilters to complete a special occasion. From prom invite pics to wedding-day videos, the app’s relatively new feature is catering to its users’ biggest life events.
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Brands and local businesses are also jumping in on the action, with sponsored filters tied to promotional campaigns. Although Snapchat remains tight-lipped when it comes to revenue, it has confirmed that it is receiving thousands of geofilter requests each week, with 40 percent coming from general users, and the rest from advertisers.
The fact that the custom feature can cost anywhere in the region of $5 to thousands of dollars means Snapchat may have struck gold in terms of monetization.
For the uninitiated, custom geofilters were launched in February and allow users to design their own filters (using existing image editors) for special events, such as birthdays, or for a business. The final creation can be submitted through Snapchat’s online portal, where users also get to select the regional size of the filter — the larger the area designated to it, the more it will cost — and the day and time of availability.
Weddings, events, and local businesses are the most popular on-demand geofilters, according to Snapchat.
That’s exactly what one user was after when she began planning her big day. Kelli O’Merry designed a custom filter for her wedding day, which included a cartoon of her and her husband, a message of congratulations, the location (San Diego, California), and a unique hashtag.
The 28-year-old found that the price fluctuated greatly depending on the area she chose, from just $15 for the warehouse in which it was being held, to $2,500 for the whole 28-acre Liberty Station development, reports The Guardian.
“Like a lot of people getting married, I want it to be unique, I want to do something different,” O’Merry told the newspaper. “This was kind of our way of doing that without spending a lot of money. It’s very 2016.”
Having previously shut down its lens filter store and removed the pay-to-replay option on snaps, it seemed that Snapchat was moving away from premium, in-app monetization options. Having secured plenty of advertising through its Discover channels for third-party media, and its sponsored Live Story option, the app apparently no longer sought its users’ hard-earned dollars. The success of custom geofilters prove that people are more than willing to shell out for a piece of Snapchat memorabilia.
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