Snapchat passes 30 million paid subscribers, but Snap shares fall 12% on weak ad revenue

Snapchat now has more than 30 million paying subscribers, Snap chief executive Evan Spiegel told investors on Wednesday, but the company's shares still fell 12% after it missed forecasts for advertising revenue and user growth, TechCrunch reported.

"We surpassed 30 million paid subscribers across Snapchat+, Memories Storage, and Lens+," Spiegel wrote, adding that AI-powered features had helped Lens+ "exceed our expectations".

The numbers

• 30 million+ paid subscribers across all plans.
• 495 million daily active users in the quarter, up from 493 million but below the 499 million analysts expected.
• Shares down 12% after the results.

What the paid plans are

At about Rs 276.70 to the dollar, the US prices range from roughly Rs 550 to Rs 4,425 a month, but the app stores charge Pakistani users local prices, which are usually lower. Check what you are actually billed in the Google Play or App Store subscription page before you sign up. Convert any dollar price on our currency converter.

Why paying users jumped

The milestone comes a year after Snap capped free storage for Memories, the feature that keeps old Snaps, and told users to pay $1.99 a month for more space or subscribe to Snapchat+ to keep them. That move was unpopular but pushed many long-time users into paying.

Spiegel said paying users are still "a small share" of the monthly audience, which leaves room to grow, and that Snap would not chase daily use "at the expense of long-term value" for users. He conceded that ad revenue growth remains below target and said the company will focus on making ads work better for businesses.

For Snapchat users in Pakistan

Snapchat is one of the most used social apps among young people here, alongside TikTok and Instagram. If you have years of Memories saved, export the ones you want to keep to your phone gallery before a storage limit catches you out, and keep an eye on how much of your monthly budget goes on app subscriptions.