While we originally posed this question on March 16th, 2015, it is still a topic of discussion today, in December 2019. There is the possibility that Snapchat will soon offer live TV, especially when it comes to sports and award shows.
The rumors are already swirling – Snapchat will offer live TV soon. With a valuation of $15 billion and a $200 million investment from Alibaba, Snapchat has some room to maneuver right now. With Snapchat Stories getting extremely popular it just makes sense that Snapchat would start to get into TV. Oh wait, they already did. The TGIF “show” is on its fifth episode this week. At this point we have no idea how many people watch this show but it is obviously somewhat successful or they would ditch the project.
The Discover tab was added to Snapchat not that long ago and millions of users now get their news and entertainment on Snapchat. Unlike Snap Photos and Stories you do not have to hold your finger down on many of the videos and highlights that are offered from ESPN, CNN and other media outlets. If Snapchat continues to see growth in the Discover option they would be silly not to try and produce TV type content.
Netflix and Streaming TV Services
To me, Netflix and Snapchat are a match made in heaven. The user base of Snapchat absolutely loves Netflix. Trust me, every college and high school student in America spends dozens of hours watching Netflix every single week. I personally know some college students that watch upwards of 20 hours of Netflix a week. While they are watching Netflix they are also checking Snapchat for the latest Stories.
Snapchat wants as much time as possible from its users. If Snapchat can find a way to show shorter TV shows it could be a gold mine. I don’t think Snapchat works for one hour TV shows or movies simply because it is a short attention span app. Something that would work very well with Snapchat are the short YouTube videos by YouTube sensations. Another interesting match would be Comedians in Cars Drinking Coffee.
Although the younger demographic did not watch Seinfeld live they likely enjoy his comedy. Most of the Comedians in Cars episodes are only 10 to 15 minutes so this would work very well with Snapchat. It would also allow the producers and Seinfeld himself to grow an audience that may not have watched him before. It is not the case that Seinfeld needs more money but he could load up with the advertising dollars that would be spend on millions of views of his Snapchat Stories for Comedians in Cars Drinking Coffee.
If you have any other ideas as to how Snapchat can incorporate video or live TV I would love to know. I think we will get to see some really cool stuff with March Madness and the Final Four this year. If you want to be your own TV star all you have to do is get popular on Snapchat and create a great Snapchat Story – you already have your own weekly TV show.
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