Less than a year after a redesign of Snapchat Discover propelled it into a new realm, a new focus on Shows looks set to take the platform towards the premium video content market.

Showing up the competition

Discover is where professional publishing houses curate regularly released content in magazine style formats. As the video-based component of Discover, Snapchat Shows seems to be a main driver of ongoing success.

So far, the Shows strategy seems to be taking old favourites and making them ultra-mobile-friendly. Target markets are typically younger. Tapping fast-forwards to the next scene, so edits are best kept tight. Filler is skipped. It aims to be more compact and immediate than traditional TV. Like the old medium, however, Snapchat earns money by putting Snap Ads into Shows. Some of the ad revenue goes back to the Show’s producers.

Majorly mainstream

In recent weeks, Snapchat Shows expanded in both quantity and profile. For instance, Discovery Channel is joining existing juggernauts like The Voice and The Bachelor in distributing exclusive content via the platform. Their traditional success stories—Shark Week and Mythbusters—are now coming to Snapchat.

Snapchat has also commissioned A&E to create an original series that will launch in April. BBC is another high-profile partner with the Goldman-Sachs-sponsored Snapchatting of Planet World 2.

Built for brands

Content consumption on mobile devices still far outstrips the advertising budgets allocated to the medium. With the amount of control and targeting that Snapchat is offering to producers and to advertisers, it may be one of traditional TV’s next big rivals.

Competitors have readily cloned other Snapchat features, but Shows seems more resilient. As more exclusive content makes its way onto the platform, it’s bears more resemblance to a premium streaming service than a social feed. The producer-curated nature of the content engages in a very brand-oriented way. It is more structured than YouTube, more purposeful than Facebook’s video content and it may be more monetizable than most other options on the market. 

Copy Transmission is a Melbourne-based agency :: Better Brands. Loud & Clear.