Snapchat and Media Companies: A Match Made in Heaven?

According to one study about 150 million people now view about 10 billion Snapchat videos each day a number that is expected to increase to 18 billion by May with a reported 25 to 30 billion public offering potentially fueling the company39s visibility and coffers as early as April With more than 200 million people now using ad blockers it39s not insignificant that Snapchat ads are viewed between 500000 and a million times per day Here are a few media and entertainment marketers that are breaking new grounds in defining what quotpromotionquot will increasingly look like in 2017Starz and Ash vs Evil DeadBased on the cultclassic film series starring legendary character actor Bruce Campbell Ash vs Evil Dead was fighting something of an uphill battle from the moment in launched in 2015 For starters it was on a premium cable network amp160Starz amp160with limited distribution Secondly the last quotofficialquot film in the series amp160Army of Darknessamp160amp160came out all the way back in 1993 The first season of the show premiered to excellent reviews but low ratings so Starz knew that when season twoamp160rolled around they needed to do something special to raise as much awareness as possible among its target demographicEnter Snapchat In addition to launching its own Snapchat account for the program Starz also made excellent use of the fastestgrowing social media network by creating its own custom Snapchat Lens timed to launch alongside the second season premier Snapchat users could take a picture of themselves turn their own face into one of the quotDeaditesquot that Ash battles on the show every week and send the spooky image out to all their friends People who were aware of the show got to show their love while people who weren39t aware got a fun Snapchat lens to use everybody wins The best part is that the lens was available to everyone creating an instant level of awareness and market penetration overnight Ash vs Evil Dead has been renewed for another season by StarzThe New York TimesAs one of America39s most respected newspapers The New York Times has always had something of a demographic problem For starters they write to one of the highest reading levels for a major newspaper in the country which does nothing to help their quothands off elitistquot image that may or may not be rightfully deserved depending on who you ask Secondly young people are reading fewer newspapers and those who are interested in news are even less willing to pay for it a fact that does nothing to help The Times39 subscriber numbers although subscription revenues now represent 60 of the company39s revenues and subscriptions are on the upswing for the first time in decades To help spur this reversal The New York Times turned to Snapchat to great effectIn addition to a larger channel for the paper itself individual Times39 writers and editors have their own Snapchat accounts They regularly post stories about the pieces they39re working on as they39re being written bringing an entirely new generation into the process of quotbreaking newsquot first hand It39s a great way to showcase Times staff members as quotreal peoplequot and also helps outline exactly why they39re making the journalistic decisions they39re making A distant editorial process has been turned it into a much more handson intimate experience amp160in a way that is particularly appealing to the younger generation to whom The New York Times needs to be introducedThe Academy AwardsAnother Snapchat promotional application is live backstage coverage of live events One of the most significant examples of this is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film aficionados can tune into their local ABCTV affiliate and watch the ceremony live in realtime and during the commercial breaks they can pick up their mobile device and turn to Snapchat to see what is going on when the cameras aren39t rolling When those Snapchat stories end they39re back to the TV screens amp160rinse and repeat all night It39s both commercial avoidance and audience activation at the same timeZoolander 2Although Zoolander 2 didn39t exactly light the box office on fire it did run one of the most effective and organic social marketing campaigns of any movie in recent history To do so the team behind the campaign relied heavily on exclusive content that users weren39t going to find anywhere else amp160even on Facebook or Twitter To coincide with the release of the film for example the official Snapchat account for the film had footage of stars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in character at Fashion Week in Paris They not only provided backstage insight into an exclusive event but the Snapchat stories were executed as if they were actual scenes from the film providing a more interactive experience with both the event and the movie at the same timeSnapchat DiscoverUp until now all of the examples mentioned have been ones that you essentially had to know existed before you turned to Snapchat in order to find them The Ash vs Evil Dead example may be an exception but if you weren39t paying attention you may have thought it was just a fun Snapchat Lens and not a marketing tool at allSnapchat Discover has recently become one of THE most effective ways for media companies to use Snapchat for promotion The quotDiscoverquot section of a user39s feed is positioned right alongside all of the stories of their actual Snapchat friends making it easy to discover new content Currently there are feeds for CNN Mashable MTV the NFL and more all paired with relevant headlines that promote a single storyMTV39s section comes with the headline quot9 Hit Songs Written by Someone Unexpectedquot This isn39t necessarily anything I care about but Mashable39s headline amp160quotWorst iPhone Update Everquot amp160catches my attention I39m not necessarily a daily visitor of Mashable and I don39t even necessarily agree with the headline as an iPhone user myself but suddenly I39m curious amp160I can tap on the feed instantly get more information and make my own decision amp160all without leaving Snapchat and heading to Mashablecom Of course as Medium has discovered the ad revenue model and return for Mashable is questionable And the actual ROI for Snapchat may ultimately prove to be fleeting as wellIt39s inevitable that new socially advanced content platforms will emerge as Instagram Stories demonstrates and others will quickly become outdated and disappear As advertisers seek alternatives to offset the Google and Facebook duopoly Snapchat is their current favorite based on the MyersBizNet survey and recent interviews with agency leaders The platform is uniquely positioned to define the word quotfrenemyquot as Snapchat39s role evolves both as a competitor for audiences and advertisers and as a promotional tool for entertainment and newsPhoto Credit Starz

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