Snapchat is starting to serve up content that looks more like it belongs on a TV channel.
The social media platform is expected to launch a tool that lets television networks show snippets of live broadcasts inside the Snapchat app, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Snapchat is kicking off the new feature by showing live segments from NBC’s coverage of the winter Olympics in South Korea.
The first broadcast will air on February 10.
Snapchat will soon roll out live broadcasts that show snippets of popular events inside the app. The first broadcast will feature segments from NBC’s coverage of the winter Olympics
Snapchat won’t air full segments of news broadcasts or award shows, but it will show live clips that document the most important moments.
Each clip will last between two and six minutes long.
When users view content on Snapchat’s live video feature, they’ll see the video playing in the app’s traditional vertical video format.
A full horizontal stream will appear at the bottom of the screen where they can select a particular segment to zoom in on.
Users can sign up for notifications about all future broadcasts or they can choose receive updates on specific streams, TechCrunch reports.
Pictured, the live Olympics broadcasts will show up on the Snapchat app once users subscribe to a specific sport or show
But don’t expect the firm to let users broadcast live content any time soon, as TechCrunch noted that Snapchat said it doesn’t have any plans to introduce such a feature just yet.
There won’t be any commercials in the segments, but many expect Snapchat to monetize the clips at some point.
The company runs ads between Snapchat Stories and in its Discover section, which features content from professional publishers.
As part of the deal with NBCUniversal, which invested $500 million in Snap during it’s high-profile IPO last year, the media firm will be introducing two Olympics-themed short-format shows on Snapchat, the Journal noted.
The shows will be about snowboarding athletes and Team USA competitors.
It will also feature photo and video montages from the Olympics using NBC content that’s produced in part by BuzzFeed.
Snapchat has featured several short-form shows from professional media outlets in the past, including NBC News’ Stay Tuned, E! Entertainment’s Rundown, A&E’s Second Chance, as well as NBC’s The Voice, among other programming.
CNN recently killed The Update, its daily news show, on Snapchat; however, the company says it will continue to work with Snapchat.
The live broadcasts may also help Snapchat expand its relationship with traditional TV networks.
‘We do believe the best place to watch a live game and a live awards show is on television,’ Ben Schwerin, Snap’s vice president of partnerships, told the Journal.
‘But if we can show the one moment that matters most on Snapchat, we think we can create a complementary experience,’ he added.
NBC officials noted that they’ve seen a groundswell of interest among young Snapchat users for Olympics-theme content.
‘To me, that barked ‘Oh, this generation does care about the Olympics,’ Maggie Suniewick, president of NBCU Digital Enterprises, told WSJ.
‘That lit a fire that there was a huge opportunity here,’ she added.
Snapchat still opens to the camera, but swiping left reveals a new ‘Friends’ page (left), where users see Stories from the friends they talk to the most. Swiping right from the camera now reveals a redesigned ‘Discover’ page (right)
The move comes as Snapchat is working to reignite user growth and prove to brands that it’s still a hot market for advertising.
Snapchat just rolled out a brand new redesign in an effort to make the app even easier to use.
The makeover to separate ‘social’ and ‘media’, creating a clear distinction between interactions with friends and content from publishers and creators.
Snapchat now ‘learns’ who your favourite friends are and the Discover window will show content from brands and publishers.
The app redesign is rolling out to users in stages in countries including the UK, US, Australia and Canada.
‘While we are still very early in the rollout, we are optimistic about the potential to unlock additional growth with the redesign of our application,’ CEO Evan Spiegel said on the company’s quarterly earnings call with investors earlier this week.
The ‘Friends’ page is where users will see the friends they talk to the most.
To the right side of the camera, users will now find a brand new Discover page where they can watch Stories from publishers, creators, and the community that they find most interesting.
The new Discover page will serve this content in a full-screen, vertical scroll, ordered on what Snapchat has seen is most relevant and interesting to the user.
Snapchat also confirmed that it is introducing new fonts and text styles, following similar moves by Instagram.