Snapchat, the transient Instant Messaging service is introducing “Discover”, a new way for corporate companies to distribute their content that has 24 hours of life span.
Snapchat has announced this deal after teaming up with more than a dozen corporations. The media partners include the National Geographic, Yahoo News, Comedy Central, Time Inc.’s People magazine, Scripps Networks Interactive’s Food Network, CNN, Warner Music Group, ESPN, Vice Media, DailyMail.com and Cosmopolitan. There is a snapchat channel too that appears in the middle of the screen during the video playback.
The discover feature will provide users with videos and stories that are cultivated by each media partner. You need to tap on a channel and then swipe left to get a daily edition with as many as 10 stories. Each story will have a preview for about 10 seconds and can be swiped up for the complete story.
Snapchat’s blog said-
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.
The refreshing of every channel after 24 hours is an interesting spin and gives a lot of meaning to the company’s statement ” what’s news today is history tomorrow”.
Snapchat is using it’s 100 million+ user base to glorify itself as a media platform and not just a messaging app. The launch of this feature makes it clear that Snapchat wants to compete with the likes of YouTube and Twitter.
There are certain sponsors that are helping out the Discover’s channels. Take CNN for an example, BMW North America is it’s sole sponsor for some days within the launch period.
Furthermore, Snapchat has disclosed that it has raised around $648 million dollars with the help of investors like August Capital, Chinese Internet company Tencent, Benchmark, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SV Angel, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) and Yahoo.
Multiple brands are interested in the idea of Stories, as a way to sponsor events and share information via messages for a 24 hour period. If sources are to be believed, Snapchat is asking for more than half a million dollars for a 24 hour advertising window. The commercial brands are planning to buy some time within the daily feed of the media companies associated with Discover. Each news item will have videos and images for informational advertising.
