Snap is going public soon. While the milestone is cause for some major celebrations for any company, it is also the time to become extra careful. The days leading up to the IPO in particular, need to be handled very carefully so as to ensure that would-be investors find plenty of reasons to shell out money and participate in the public offering. Well, Snapchat is doing all it can to woo investors and towards the same, has announced a new content partnership with A+E Networks.
The partnership is aimed towards the creation of the first unscripted drama series for Snapchat shows. Unscripted means that it will be a reality show and perhaps realizing that most people watch reality shows only when they have a lot of drama, Snapchat is debuting its journey with a pretty potent combination.
The company’s first reality TV series for Snapchat Shows is called “Second Chance” and as per the description provided alongside, will bring
emotional exes face to face to explore the breaking point in their relationship for the first time. In this sincere setting, couples seeking closure will also discover heartfelt opportunities for reconciliation.
Yeah? Well, I don’t know about you but I have a hard time believing such pure and “sincere” motives. We are more likely to witness a lot of shouting and stuff-throwing as opposed to folks just sitting down and discussing the finer aspects of their convoluted (probably) relationship with each other — If they could have done that, they wouldn’t be on the show in the first place. Regardless, the theme is very likely to strike a chord and generate interest from Snap’s mostly millennial users.
You may also Like: Game Killer
The show is slated to run for a 8-week period and will be available to viewers in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Snapchat may or may not make it available to other locations in the future.
Meanwhile, this is the company’s second partnership of the sort that comes within less than a week. Earlier, a deal with BBC involving footage from Planet Earth 2 had also been announced. The deal had to do with coming up with something for Snapchat Shows using PE2 content that wasn’t used in the final TV show. This partnership with A+E (which is a joint venture between Disney and Hearst) is a sure shot indication that Snapchat is looking to move aggressively and leverage original shows to bring more users on-board.
Speaking about the collaboration, Nick Bell, Snap’s VP of Content said:
A+E’s investment in mobile storytelling is exactly what Snapchat Shows are all about: The ability to create premium and wholly original content for a mobile-first audience from some of the best storytellers in the world. We are excited to break new ground with A+E Networks on our first unscripted series, with a concept that we think is raw and relatable.
The folks over at A+E appeared to be similarly excited about the prospect of a partnership with an app that is known to have most of its audience in the younger generation. Paul Greenberg, EVP and GM for 45th & Dean, the A+E production studio that will be working on the project, said:
Snapchat is a powerful brand, one which knows how to reach new audiences by pushing the limits and expanding the boundaries of creativity. We’re extremely excited to bring A+E Networks’ strong brand portfolio [it also owns Lifetime, the History Channel and FYI] to the Snapchat platform like never before as we roll out Second Chance and several other series already in development.
Snapchat said that it will go public with more partnerships soon. Meanwhile, announcing the partnerships right before its IPO, could be taken as sending a signal to potential investors. And the company will need to send out plenty of signals. Its IPO comes in the middle of a fiery debate over rule changes that are asking for investors and hedge fund managers to be given voting privileges. Snapchat parent Snap’s filings have confirmed that the IPO stock will not carry any voting powers and as such, there has been talk of some hedge fund managers possibly boycotting it to prove their point.
With that said, Snapchat has a good track record for coming up with aggressive ideas that have served it well in the past — and which have later been copied by Instagram and Facebook. Let’s see if Snapchat’s approach to Shows, which seems to focus mostly on the millennials for now, serves it well too.
