Snapchat, an American multimedia messaging app co-founded by Evan Spiegel, crossed 60-million user base mark in India. There is expanding engagement across its offerings.
An email interview conducted by Moneycontrol, Snap’s Nana Murugesan, Managing Director, International Markets, revealed details on the company’s India plans, the launch of Spotlight and more.
He was asked about Snapchat’s growth in India, what it meant and the company’s future plans with India. To this, Nana responded by saying that “India is a key market for Snap and this momentum comes down to three things.” Those three components are:
- A natural connection with the Indian community through visual and expressive connection with special reference to COVID-19.
- Snapchat is being worked on to make it accessible to local cultures – the support has been increased to nine languages. Range of creative tools has been assigned to holidays with cultural and regional significance such as Holiday, Diwali, Pongal, Lohri and so on. It created programs such as ‘Jio’s Got Talent’ while partnering with Jio and Samsung to distribute their app on smartphones.
- Augmented reality has enhanced engagement and revolutionized how people communicate, entertain and learn.
He also added, “As we look ahead to this year, we will double down investment in partnerships, experiences and product developments that help Snapchat resonate with our community in India.”
Another question focused on monetization as a challenge. According to a source, who is aware of Snapchat’s growth in India, revenues from India are less than $20 million yearly. Murugesan refused to share details on the companies earnings and revenues but instead said, ” We have grown our revenues in India in response to enthusiasm from and successful outcomes for advertisers of all sizes.”
While commenting on their push brand marketing, he said, “We strengthened our ad platform to drive improved outcomes for advertisers all over the world. In India, we work with brands across the verticals of entertainment, media, fashion, retail and tech to create engaging campaigns to help them expand their reach.”
The Snap Managing Direction of international markets said that the company commenced working in India in 2019 and have approached a holistic team-building strategy. He said that the main focus is on establishing functions to accomplish. There are leads that represent each department such as growth strategy, partnerships, sales, content and editorial, talent and creative strategy. He stated that they will continue to grow their team in India, attempt to localize survives, forge and progress healthy partnerships in the region and finally, engage the community of Snapchat.
As Murugesan commented on Lens Studio and the investments the company will be making, he said, “We have always believed that building and investing in tools like Lens Studio make AR accessible. This is important as we believe this technology will be a key part of digital skills in the future.”
Lastly, he was asked about Spotlight’s inauguration in India and whether it was being delayed as rumours said. He denied this saying that Spotlight has been launched in a handful of countries last year and they are presently aiming to expand availability over time. But this decision is being taken very thoughtfully to make sure that the scale achieved is synonymous with their rigorous moderation efforts.
