Snapchat scripted content by year-end
August 24, 2017
Social media app Snapchat will add scripted content to its service “before the end of year”. Nick Bell, head of content for the photo-sharing platform, said that the company was not seeking to take-on traditional broadcasters, but rather complement them.
“Instead, it can help bolster them,” he said, speaking at the Edinburgh International TV Festival. “We’re really capturing the audience who are not probably consuming TV at the same rate and pace of engagement that they once were.”
Bell added that, like the rest of Snapchat content, long-form isn’t the answer. He believes that the ideal length for a mobile show is three to five minutes, and any scripted content will continue to conform to that ethos. He suggested that “doing a daily soap like Coronation Street” […] or a sitcom like Friends or an animation like The Simpsons” would be a good fit for the short-form platform.Snapchat already offers plenty of unscripted content, including NBC’s twice-daily news show, CNN’s newscast, a CBS-led James Corden variety show and MTV’s Cribs.
Bell stated that his ultimate goal was to turn a smartphone into “the remote control for your TV consumption.”