Dive Brief:
- Cable company Viacom and social media platform Snapchat have joined forces in a multi-year deal that allows Viacom to sell ads on Snapchat’s behalf.
- The Wall Street Journal first reported the agreement, which will give Viacom good news to offer its investors and provides Snapchat access to the cable company’s large advertisers.
- Snapchat already serves content for Viacom-owned networks Comedy Central and MTV.
Dive Insight:
Viacom investors have been concerned about slumping share value and ratings so the deal with Snapchat came at an opportune time as Viacom released its quarterly results this week. The move is poised to benefit both Snapchat and marketers. Buying ads through Viacom could help the messaging app attract bigger brands and help marketers reach the app's millennial and Gen Z-heavy audience.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Viacom will have exclusive third-party rights to directly sell advertising around Snapchat owned and operated content, including “Live Stories.” Viacom will also add two channels to the Snapchat Discover portal. MTV, currently an international channel, will also get a U.S. channel, and Comedy Central will expand from a U.S. channel by adding an international channel.
Viacom CFO Wade Davis told the Wall Street Journal, “We had early on made a big commitment to developing premium, original content for the channels we had on the platform. Based on the success we had, we started talking about what we could do beyond that.”
A Snapchat spokesperson told Reuters that Viacom is the only TV company to have this type of arrangement with the app. For Snapchat, the deal could have huge revenue implications, as well as help it cement its place in the social advertising landscape.
