Snapchat Lenses Taken Over By “X-Men: Apocalypse”

The lens feature of Snapchat has become a playground for people who want to decorate their selfies with dog ears, flowers, or the eyes of an alien. The service said the feature generates over thirty million snaps every day. Now, advertisers are using the feature to join the fun and they have become aggressive recently.

Snapchat announced recently that it is working with 20th Century Fox to takeover all of the lenses of Snapchat to promote the upcoming release of “X-Men: Apocalypse.” Due to this, face swaps and flower crowns will not be available for 24 hours. Instead, users will be able to use lenses showing Marvel characters, including Storm and Magneto.

While Snapchat did not reveal the cost of taking over the lenses, reports have indicated that a lens sponsorship may cost between $450,000 and $750,000 each day. The investment will give the sponsor the opportunity to reach over 100 million users everyday between the ages of 13 and 34. It will also result to a few seconds of engagement for the sponsor.

Snapchat Lenses Taken Over By “X-Men: Apocalypse” - image credit: commons.wikimedia.org

In the case of the “X-Men: Apocalypse” takeover, users will be able to snap a selfie using the X-Men filter and share the image to their friends. Users will also have the opportunity to purchase movie tickets through the video ads on Snapchat, which is the first time this feature is offered on the platform.

Brands are currently looking into Snapchat after the lens feature was initially offered last year. Users were able to douse themselves with Gatorade in February for two days. In May a lens was sponsored by Taco Bell allowing them to transform selfies into taco-shaped pictures.

Snapchat said the lens was viewed around 224 million times within a 24-hour-period, and users tinkered with the filter for around 24 seconds before they sent the photos. Some users were not appreciative of the selection of Marvel characters with the “X-Men: Apocalypse” takeover.

One observer said the takeover of Snapchat by ““X-Men: Apocalypse”” was similar to the intrusion of U2 when the group placed their album in all iTunes accounts. However, the interactions on Snapchat are temporary and most messages have a short shelf life, which means the themed lenses will not be available by Tuesday. On the other hand, tickets to the movie through the app will remain available until Thursday.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Tuesday May 24 2016, 11:36 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0