Wednesday, January 28, 2015

"Discover" is the media play of Snapchat

The smartphone messaging app unveiled the new feature yesterday, which will allow media companies to publish content to the app for users to consume. In addition to having outside companies put content on the app, Snapchat is also reportedly introducing its own publishing arm.

Users will have a limited amount of time to consume a piece of content put on Snapchat, a move that provides urgency and keeps in the apps tradition of ephemeral.
The company introduced the new feature in a video and blog post published Tuesday morning. The media companies on Discover at launch include Vice, CNN, National Geographic, ESPN, Cosmopolitan and various more.

 
Snapchat Discover is a new way to explore Stories from different editorial teams. It’s the result of collaboration with world-class leaders in media to build a storytelling format that puts the narrative first. This is not social media. Social media companies tell us what to read based on what’s most recent or most popular. We see it differently.

We count on editors and artists, not clicks and shares, to determine what’s important. Discover is different because it has been built for creatives. All too often, artists are forced to accommodate new technologies in order to distribute their work. This time we built the technology to serve the art: each edition includes full screen photos and videos, awesome long form layouts, and gorgeous advertising.

Discover is new, but familiar. That’s because Stories are at the core - there’s a beginning, middle, and end so that editors can put everything in order. Every edition is refreshed after 24 hours - because what’s news today is history tomorrow. Discover is fun and easy to use. Tap to open an edition, swipe left to browse Snaps, or swipe up on a Snap for more.

Each channel brings you something unique – a wonderful daily surprise! The introduction of media brings Snapchat into closer competition with messaging apps that have exploded in popularity overseas, including Facebook-owned WhatsApp, QQ and Tango, which have become popular platforms for consuming and sharing media.

 

Snapchat's rapid rise in popularity was accompanied by an even more meteoric rise in valuation. An investment in the later part of 2014 valued the company at $10 billion, according to reports. Discover is another step toward justifying those valuations and monetizing its users, which reportedly number more than 100 million monthly actives.Snapchat could then sell advertising against that content and split the revenue with contributors. The introduction of Discover is the biggest step in the company's evolution from an ephemeral messaging app to a major media
platform but not its first.

 

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