Snapchat just massively stepped up its ambition to become the future of TV, bringing shows to the UK
- Snapchat wants British users to watch TV-like shows inside its app.
- It's partnered with 17 UK media brands, such as The Guardian and Sky News, to create short, original shows which will last between three and seven minutes.
- The goal for Snap is to gobble up more TV advertising.
- Snap will share revenue from the ads which run in the shows with its publishing partners.
Snap has massively stepped up its ambitions to become the future of TV, partnering 17 British media brands to bring original shows to UK Snapchat users.
Broadcasters and media organisations including Channel 4, Vice, and Sky News are among the partners who will bring short, TV-like episodes to Snapchat. You can see the full list of media brands below.
The idea is to bring snappy series to the Snapchat app and its youthful user base, with each show lasting between three and seven minutes. Snapchat users will swipe right from the main camera to access shows, which will be housed in the "Discover" area of the app.
There's a big variety of shows on offer, ranging from vloggers doing silly things to serious news, to a series showcasing food from around the world.
The UK announcement is a little different from Snap's original shows offering in the US, which involves a much closer collaboration with content partners and content that wouldn't appear on any other platform.
While there are some UK shows that are brand new, such as a new series from travel publisher the Culture Trip, Snap isn't billing these as original content created only for Snapchat.
Remi Saad, head of international content partnerships at Snap, said Snapchat users were increasingly watching content produced by publishing partners, saying the amount of time users spend watching shows had tripled since the beginning of 2018.
According to the company, the 21 shows already available in Discover from US creators attract 10 million monthly active viewers globally.
The aim for Snap is to take advertising revenue from TV. The company is touting its "Commercials" ad format, six-second non-skippable video ads that slot into shows. Forced ads are a major deviation from the norm for Snapchat, which has built its brand on skippable content.
But no doubt forcing users to watch ads will make Snapchat a more enticing platform for both advertisers and media brands, which will be relying on revenue generated from ads in order to fund their shows. Saad confirmed Snap would share ad revenue with its partners, but didn't discuss the split.
Unlike rivals like Facebook, Snap won't be funding its partners' shows. Saad told Business Insider: "We see the investment strategy around shows is about bringing amazing content that people love into Snapchat too. We have seen great success with launching shows in the US... The format has proven it'll bring some great engagement."
Saad said advertisers who run a campaign for 30 days on Snapchat could reach around 5 million unique users.
Here are the 17 new Show partners:
- Sky News
- Sky Sports
- VICE
- Gleam Futures
- The Guardian
- Culture Trip
- Hearst / Cosmopolitan UK
- Tastemade
- COPA90
- Channel 4 [trial]
- Global
- Boiler Room
- GRM Daily
- JOE.co.uk
- Brave Bison
- PinkNews
- Manchester City