Snapchat introduces a new program to reward AR Lens creators

Snapchat unveiled on Tuesday a new lens creator rewards program that would allow AR makers and developers to earn money for top-performing Lenses. If an AR lens creator's invention is a top-performing Lens with solid interaction in the United States, India, or Mexico, they might be compensated up to US$7,200 per month.

Although Snapchat will initially prioritize top-performing metrics in these three countries, any Lens developer from 40 eligible countries can get prizes if their Lens performs well in the United States, India, or Mexico.

Sophia Dominguez, Snap's head of AR Platform Partnerships and Ecosystem, told TechCrunch in an interview that the firm intends to start small and gather feedback from its community before expanding the rewards program to other regions.

"We wanted to start with these three markets, but then also make sure that it was global by default because our Snapchatter and lens creator ecosystem is pretty global," Dominguez explained. "So we wanted to start small and measure the feedback we get from both sides, such as what Snapchatters think, are they seeing more interesting types of Lenses?" Are this motivating Lens developers to produce new types of Lenses? Is this motivating? And, if it is a success, we will undoubtedly expand it."

Although Snapchat didn't clarify what the prerequisites are for the program, Dominguez says the company would look at numerous measures, including views and particular Lens-related analytics. Snap will also track how long people are playing around with Lenses. Dominguez says that additional information about eligibility and conditions will become available once the program is implemented.

When a creator receives a reward, they will receive an email telling them that their Lens is eligible for a prize and alerts inside their creator hub.

Paige Piskin, one of Snapchat's top producers, told TechCrunch in an email that she hopes the new incentives program would open up new business opportunities for Lens artists and motivate more people to create Lenses.

"I've been a Lens creator for nearly four years now; I started out designing as a hobby/passion, and it evolved into a full-time job," Piskin explained. "Over the last few years, my effects have generated billions of impressions and nearly a billion shares across platforms, but I've never been able to monetize that traffic (as a content creator can with ad revenue)." I love creating, especially fun character and makeup looks. With the new rewards program, I'm even more excited and encouraged to create more lenses and experiment with new capabilities and techniques."

Snapchat showed a community of over 300,000 AR makers, developers, and teams. Creators have created over 3 millionLenses, and consumers have watched them more than 5 trillion times.