Dive Brief:
- Snapchat launched "Discover" Tuesday, a new publishing portal that distributes major content from brands like Warner Music, CNN, and ESPN.
- Publishers—like Cosmopolitan, National Geographic, People magazine, and Vice, to name a few— wasted little time trying out Discover, with some covering the big news of Tuesday's winter storm Juno in the northeast U.S.
- Brands will be able to advertise through Discover as well, as T-Mobile, Macy's, Stride, and cable channel Oxygen have all purchased ads to distribute through the Daily Mail's Discover Snapchat channel.
Dive Insight:
The Discover platform offers a direct channel to deliver mobile stories to a younger audience, a potential goldmine for the marking community. The feature also comes on the heels of the news that not only are Snapchat ads effective, but are also very expensive—so clearly the app is doing something right. Publishers and advertisers will need to be careful to follow the rules and language of Snapchat's app, which is keeping things short and relatively light. If brands can prove to be successful at that, Discover could be a whole new, popular way to consume media going forward.
