Snapchat parent company Snap continues to reinvent mobile TV by launching a slate of 12 serialized TV shows to feed its users’ growing appetite for viewing its programming.
Sean Mills, Snap VP Original Content, says the amount of time people spend watching its shows per month has tripled since January. The company is commissioning a greater number of original productions as a key part of its strategy for profitability in 2019. The aim is to provide enough new programming for users to get the habit of watching on a daily basis.
Snap is partnering with major production companies, such as MTV reality pioneers Bunim-Murray (who make Keeping Up With the Kardashians). The shows offer Snapchat users regular episodes of three to five minutes and are in a range of genres, including docu-series and scripted drama, targeting the app’s teen and young adult demographic. Each episode will include two or three TV-style unskippable commercials running for six seconds each.
The first shows to launch include Endless Summer, a docu-series about social media influencer Summer McKeen, scripted murder mystery Class of Lies, and Vivian, a docu-series following model scout Vivian Benitez.
Snapchat is making the Snap Originals easy to find on the app. There is a new Shows section in the Discover content tab, a dedicated profile page for each show and opt-in push notifications to tell users when new episodes are released.
It is also running a consumer marketing campaign, via billboards and YouTube, to raise awareness of the Snap Originals brand and individual shows.
As Futurescape highlighted in The Snapchat Report, Snap and its television partners are transforming storytelling and formats for the mobile-first era.
The Snapchat Report
TV for the mobile-first generation
The first critical and independent appraisal of how international television broadcasters are innovating original TV content and formats on mobile, partnering with Snapchat.
Access in-depth analysis, Snapchat TV shows and new formats, broadcasters’ strategies, advertising opportunities and key data: 133 pages, 29 tables and charts.
