Snapchat just proved why lenses are a bigger deal than Stories
Quick, what's Snapchat's most important feature?
While you'd be forgiven for answering "Stories," the most important feature to Snapchat's business today might be something else entirely: lenses.
Yes, you read that right. The barfing rainbows and dog ears could end up being far more valuable to the company than the feature Facebook has worked so hard to copy.
Case in point, Snap launched a new form of branded lenses called "shoppable" lenses on Wednesday, which allow brands to apply buy buttons and prompts to install ads directly into a lens. Think of it as Snapchat's version on Instagram's "buy now" ads.
While the company has had "sponsored" lenses for some time, the new format takes the concept to a whole new level. Debuting today with a handful of partners, the new branded lenses allow companies to activate promotions directly within one of Snapchat's most popular (and most visible) features.
Consider this: More than 70 million people swipe through the app's lenses each day, according to the company. That means a single lens has the potential to reach more than a third of Snapchat's daily users (about 187 million, as of its last earnings report).
Snapchat's recent — and unpopular — redesign makes this move even more consequential. With influential users abandoning the platform, and others reporting sharp declines in Story views, the ads that appear between Stories are less likely to have the reach they once did, even with the new Stories tab. (Stories growth has been flat even before the redesign, according to internal documents reported by The Daily Beast in January.)
Which brings us back to lenses. For all of the problems with Stories, and as much as users may hate Snapchat's new design, lenses are incredibly popular. On an average day, about 50 percent of 13-34-year-olds in the U.S. see a Snapchat lens, according to the company's estimates. Even the biggest haters will agree Snapchat's lenses are far superior to Instagram's cheesy face filters.
By adding a new and even more powerful tool for advertisers to use in that lens carousel, Snap is doubling down on its most popular feature. And, more importantly, opening up the potential for many more ad dollars to flow through it.
It's likely no coincidence, then, that this launch comes one day after the company opened up selfie lenses in its Lens Studio software. More lenses in more places only makes it that much more appealing to advertisers.
Of course, much will still depend on the company's ability to maintain user growth and keep users engaged with all parts of the app — not just lenses. But if Snap can monetize even a modest percentage of its overall lens usage, its ad business will only be that much stronger.
Topics Snapchat Social Media
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
