Snapchat launches sponsored lenses - will brand your face.

As if to prove how the platform - and advertising on it - is the new king over content, Snapchat just announced that brands can buy their "lenses" feature. It has only been in use for two weeks, and during that time, when people took selfies they could puke rainbows, add a scary face, or turn themselves into emoji-eyed humans. Now any brand can buy this sort of fun, it'll be $450,000 per sponsored lens on normal days, and up to $750,000 on "peak days" the financial times reports. Could you picture yourself as Chester the Cheetah? Will skittles brand those puking rainbows? Perhaps a PSA about domestic violence will add bruises to your face. Will people get really creative with your sponsored lens? Will they hijack it to mock it? Maybe people won't use the branded lenses at all, because that's like selling out, yo. All I know is that the first brand using it will get press.

This is not the only revenue for Snapchat who needs the money to keep snapping up office in Venice, California, pushing homeless shelters out of the community. Snapchat also has "Discover", and paid replays - where users are charged a dollar to watch a snap again. Will Twitter soon charge by the char? I hope so.

A Snapchat spokesperson says that "sponsored lenses allow Snapchatters to express themselves and connect with a brand in a really creative and dynamic way."