Brief:
- Scary Mommy, a media brand of Some Spider Studios, debuts today as the first publisher of parenting tips on the Discover section of Snapchat, the image-sharing app with 178 million users worldwide, a press release announced. Scary Mommy will release new Stories on Snapchat three mornings per week — Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday — to offer advice to moms.
- The publisher will feature videos, articles and quizzes that have the same honest and irreverent tone as its social media and website content. Scary Mommy has 80 million followers across its social channels and 15 million registered users on its website, the release said.
- Scary Mommy produces original video series, essays and daily news content and has an in-house studio to create custom branded content for its advertising partners like Kroger, Disney and General Mills.
Insight:
Snapchat started as a disappearing message app for teens and young adults, but as those mobile users grow up and start families, parent company Snap Inc. is looking to maintain their interest while expanding its audience to older demographic as well. The Scary Mommy channel might be another way to appeal to millennial parents with content that offers perspectives that reassure young mothers that they don't have to be supermoms.
Mommy bloggers served as some of the earliest vestiges of influencer marketing online, so it's unsurprising that media brands focused on parenting tips are starting to put a greater focus on social media beyond the web. Scary Mommy working with ad partners like Kroger, Disney and General Mills via its branded content studio shows the strong interest this type of content receives from large advertisers.
Snap is looking to grow its user base by allowing its public content to be shared on other social media platforms, not just inside the Snapchat app. The company last month let users start to share links to videos curated by Snapchat in the app's Our Stories and Search Stories features, in addition to videos from celebrities and other public figures.
Snap reports its Q4 2017 results later today, and analysts want to see how well the company is growing its audience, improving sales and cutting losses. The company had a rocky 2017 with disappointing user growth and a steady exodus of top executives, including Tom Conrad, the vice president of product who plans to leave next month. The company's younger-skewing user base is generally attractive to advertisers, but Snap hasn't been able to translate that loyalty and engagement into stronger revenue. Wall Street analysts forecast that Snap will report revenue of $253 million for Q4 2017, up from the disappointing $207.9 million in the prior quarter.
