Our Stories: Snapchat Turns to Publishers to Boost Revenue

In an effort to grow its stalled user base and generate more revenue, Snap Inc. announced it will encourage 20 publishing partners such as CNN, Cosmopolitan, NBC News and Viacom to create curated collections of user posts called Our Stories. Each collection of snaps will center on a specific event and will be made available via Snapchat’s Discover section. Snap has been generating revenue through ad sales by curating Our Stories for events such as concerts, awards shows and sports. While these have been curated by Snapchat employees, Snap is now asking media companies to build the collections.

There is a wealth of opportunity with such a crowdsourcing approach. Media partners “could create reels of reactions to major news stories or shots from people with eyes on the ground at the scene of the action,” explains TechCrunch.

“They could highlight how people use a certain product, experience a particular place, or use a certain Snapchat creative feature. The publishers might produce daily or weekly collections around a topic or try a wide range of one-offs to surprise their viewers. You could think of it as a little bit like YouTube playlists.”

Snap plans to split the revenue from ads that appear alongside Our Stories with the publishers that curate the collections.

Recode suggests that the move “creates a new revenue stream for Snap and should lead to more ad inventory. Snap said Thursday that over the past month over 75 million people watched Our Stories inside the app. That number should go up with more than 20 new media partners creating Our Stories in addition to Snap.”

Additionally, the move could generate more publicity for Snapchat. “Media partners will be able to share these Our Stories on their websites, and it’s possible they’ll promote them or solicit posts from users in order to create them. In either instance, it gives media organizations another reason to talk about Snapchat, which could be helpful for Snap.”

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