Facebook Ups Its Sticker Game As The First Paid Packs Arrive For Messenger

In a move that may seem trivial, but could be indicative of the future, you can now buy paid-for stickers for Facebook Messenger. Facebook itself isn’t offering stickers directly, but it is working closely with a third-party — Singapore startup PicoCandy — to offer a selection of new emoji and sticker packs, some of which cost $0.99 or $1.99.

Stickers first grew popular in Asia, where they were pioneered by Line, the mobile messaging company from Japan. Over the last couple of years, stickers have gone from being a topic of amusement in Western markets, to a form of media that has been embraced by countless messaging and communication services, as I pointed out two years ago, and more recently brands.

Facebook has, to this point, taken a fairly conservative approach. It has brokered deals with some media companies to exclusively run their stickers — for example, iconic toy brand Lego or popular kids film Despicable Me — but the focus has always been on keeping stickers and emojis free. (Facebook has instead dedicated resources to adding stickers to other parts of its service beyond Messenger, e.g. within status updates,inside photos and as comments.)

Now, though, the U.S.-based social network is dipping its toes into paid content for the first time — albeit indirectly through this partnership with PicoCandy, which has released its first consumer app in the process.

It’s probably about time, too.

Two years ago, Line was making $10 million per month from sticker sales from a then-230 million registered userbase. That figure has certainly increased considerably — Line’s average revenue per user has jumped even though user growth has slackened — but the company has never given an updated figure. Indeed, its DIY creators marketplace alone grossed $75 million in revenue during its first year of business, and it is one small segment of the stickers that Line offers.

There is certainly money to be made when you consider that Facebook has 1.5 billion monthly active users, while 300 million people in Asia use its service daily. (Though the appeal of paid-for stickers is growing in other parts of the world.)

Inevitably, there’s a slight catch at this point, however.

The paid stickers are stashed away in PicoCandy’s new app for Messenger — which is available for iOS or Android. That means that Messenger users will need to download PicoCandy’s app — in addition to Messenger, of course — which will need to be opened every time they want to download or buy a new sticker, and even when they want to send one to a friend.

That’s pretty convoluted and hardly a convenient process. Many people will be put off by the level of friction involved.

It is just the starting point though. In the same way that Facebook has integrated GIFs into Messenger, after finding that the experience of downloading and then using third-party GIF apps for Messenger is cumbersome, so third-party stickers will be integrated into the messaging app over time.

“This first version has global stickers, which are English-based and not global, but very soon we’ll be offering localized content.. and it will [eventually] be integrated within the [Messenger] app,” Geraldine Yong, PicoCandy CEO, told TechCrunch in an interview.

Yong admitted that multiple apps are not ideal, but reemphasized the roadmap to an integrated experience.

“The [Messenger] user experience is not the most ideal,” she admitted. “Facebook is taking steps to make it more conducive for users. We’ll [also] work on things to improve the experience, so it won’t just be standalone. It’s coming up soon, [but] this is the first part.”

If it follows what it did for GIFs, Messenger’s integrated sticker feature would pool content from across different partner apps and serve up content based on search terms and what is trending.

PicoCandy, which matches brands with sticker designers and allows stickers to be deployed across multiple services, is currently offering stickers from McDonalds (free), and a mixture of free and paid for content. (There are currently nine paid-for sticker pays available via its app.)

Facebook isn’t currently taking a cut of any money that PicoCandy makes via its app, but Google and Apple will take their usual share of revenue for purchases made on Android and iOS devices, respectably. You’d expect that, when the social network wants to make a bigger sticker splash, it would take a slice of stickers sale — although Facebook could also monetize from brands that pay it to allow them to offer stickers to raise awareness, a move that could become particularly important as/when brands are given dedicated accounts on Messenger and can interact directly with users.

If you want to glimpse at the first paid-for Messenger stickers — Yong said PicoCandy will add to the library on an ongoing basis — check out the PicoCandy for Messenger app for iOS or Android. But, either way, stickers will be integrated into a Messenger app near you soon — you cannot escape!!