Snap today announced at its annual Snap Partner Summit an array of new features across its platform and demonstrated how the AR experiences it has built alongside its partners seamlessly weave into our daily lives, improving the way we live, learn, communicate, and even shop.
Alongside new features, Snap announced that Snapchat now reaches over 600 million monthly and more than 332 million daily active users around the world. Snap also now works with over half a million partners, creators, and developers to provide its community with innovative products and services.
Camera News
To help support further AR innovation, Snap today introduced features including Lens Cloud.
Lens Cloud is a freely available collection of backend services. Features include:
● Storage services: this makes it possible to build complex and interactive Lenses by storing assets in Snap’s cloud, and call on them, on-demand. Snapchatters can pick up on sessions where they left off last time
● Location services: allows developers to anchor their Lenses into custom locations around the world. Or, they can use Snap’s city templates.
● Multi-User Services: shared AR across multiple users is possible within the same Lens
Soon, Lens Studio will feature Ray Tracing, which will make it possible for reflections to shine from AR objects in a way that’s true to life. This is the first time a capability like this is scaling across mobile devices.
AR Shopping News
This week Snap is introducing several new technologies to advance the way brands can bring products to their customers through AR:
● Introducing Snap 3D Asset Manager: Brands can now request, manage, and optimize 3D models for any product in their catalogue. Now, Shopping Lenses can be created in seconds, and at no additional cost, allowing brands to create highly converting try-on experiences while ensuring minimal returns thanks to Snap’s size prediction technology
● Introducing a new kind of shopping Lens for trying on outfits without ever having to change clothes, powered by our AR Image Processing Technology
● Introducing Dress Up: Available in Lens Explorer, or soon just one tap away from the Snap Camera in AR Bar, Dress Up invites people to browse, discover, and share new looks from around the world. This will be the first dedicated surface for fashion experiences on Snapchat.
● Introducing Camera Kit for AR Shopping: Camera Kit for AR Shopping is an AR SDK that brings Snap’s try-on Lenses into retailers and brands’ product detail pages to enhance the digital shopping experience for their customers. Camera Kit for AR Shopping works across Android and iOS, and will soon work on websites too.
Live Nation Partnership
Snap announced a multi-year partnership with Live Nation that will elevate performances beyond stages – creating a deeper connection between artists and fans – through custom-built, immersive AR – only available on Snapchat.
Developer News
Snap also announced a new feature for developers to add social experiences to Minis.
Snap introduced Minis in 2020, offering partners a way to use our html5 gaming platform to build bite-sized social experiences within Snapchat. Today, there are more than 20 Minis from partners and more that help the community do everything from shopping with friends to registering to vote.
● Introducing Minis Private Components System: Developers can add social elements to their experiences such as ratings, reviews, recommendations and more while protecting Snapchatter privacy.
Creator News
There’s a spectrum of opportunity for creators on Snapchat to grow their audience, from Stories to Spotlight to Discover, and they’re building real businesses on our platform.
For creators syndicating a show, shows are monetized with Snap Ads and Commercials, and there is a revenue share component. We’ll reveal that more than 25 Spotlight creators have syndicated shows on Discover, which were collectively watched by over 155 million Snapchatters in the second half of last year.
Nearly two-thirds of Spotlight submissions use one of Snapchat’s creative tools or an augmented reality Lens.
● Introducing Dual Mode editing tools: it’ll be even easier to make videos that stand out with new Director Mode editing tools available within Snapchat.
Pixy News
Snap is introducing a flying camera called Pixy. It’s pocket sized, and operates on its own, without controllers or anything complicated to set up. It floats a few feet above you and captures photos and videos, then lands in the palm of your hand after the flight. Everything it shoots gets downloaded into your Snapchat Memories.
Pixy is only available while supplies last, in the US and France. Before Pixy takes flight, Snapchatters should check in on some of the applicable laws and regulations for the US and France.
