Snapchat is making a steady march toward maturation. While the mobile platform decided not to continue creating original content in-house, Snapchat has added several new publishing partners to Discover, with Viacom as the most recent.
Viacom announced recently the agreement for content production and advertising sales, as well as two new channels on Snapchat Discover: Comedy Central channel for international markets, and an MTV channel for U.S. audiences.
Viacom will also sell Snapchat’s ad inventory, which means television advertisers might see advertising on Snapchat more favorably.
The partnership also grants Snapchat expanded access to live events, such as the MTV VMAs and the BET Experience. Primarily though, the deal aims to distribute more content from Viacom’s channels to Snapchat audiences. Both MTV and Comedy Central are slated to create original series in addition to providing more curated comedy content and lifestyle videos to Discover.
Wade Davis, Viacom CFO, said in a press release:
Snapchat captures young audiences on an intimate and immersive mobile video platform while Viacom is the leader in premium long- and short-form storytelling for these same audiences. Add in Viacom’s custom marketing solutions and commitment to evolve our global mobile strategy and you’ve got a partnership that is great for both companies, for advertisers, and is a real evolution of the marketplace.
This partnership could provide a great deal of content for all age groups on Snapchat. The MTV generation (Gen Xers) were most engaged with the 2015 VMAs, but millennials could gain more exposure to events like these through the Viacom/Snapchat partnership.
If the pilot program is success, Viacom may expand its content offerings on Snapchat to include other channels like Nickelodeon and VH1, ultimately connecting younger audiences with content where they like it: on their mobile devices.
Readers: What do you think this deal will mean for Snapchat?
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