ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Marketing Dive acquired Mobile Marketer in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out the new Marketing Dive site for the latest marketing news.

Snapchat's new discover channel plus IPO development alludes to bullish future

The Economist is the latest to join Snapchat Discover, supporting the social media application as it develops an initial public offering and is likely to see $366.7 million in worldwide ad revenue for this year.

Snapchat has been dominating the social media scene and excessively disrupting consumer behavior, allowing the app to make strides forward in its business model and soon go public. As its Discover stories become more prevalent with users, more publications are looking to join with The Economist being the latest with Goldman Sachs as its advertising partner. 

?Discover is a very small and select club, and Snapchat decides which publishers can launch and when,? said Tom Standage, deputy editor at The Economist. ?We are thrilled to be launching on the platform, and to bring what we think is a new and very distinctive style of journalism to Snapchat?s large and growing audience.

Ad support 
The mobile messaging app became ad supported less than two years ago, but has since then acquired significant revenue from sponsors, with its profits from ads continually growing. Next year, Snapchat will likely see revenue from advertising exceed $935.5 billion, jumping by 155.1 percent, according to eMarketer. 

Discover sponsorship will likely be the driver for ad revenue in the United States, making up 43 percent of its projected $348.4 million total. The Economist will support that number, as it launches its new Discover channel that will feature a millennial-focused subset of its daily content that ties into its core values but works well on Snapchat.


The Economist's example for its Snapchat channel

Goldman Sachs will be the premiere sponsor of the channel for its first addition. The banking firm feels that the financial publication fit its brand image, and that they share a similar audience. 

The Economist?s Discover channel will have one edition that airs once a week over the weekend and represent one theme. There will be 14 snaps and short pieces of content that support the overall theme such animated cards, reports, analysis, charts, maps and videos. 


Snapchat?s Economist channel debuts amidst news from The Wall Street Journal that the app?s parent company, Snap Inc., is working on an IPO that will see the company going public as early as March 2017. 

Other Snapchat debuts
Condé Nast?s Vogue made its fashionably late debut on Snapchat Discover as well with millennial-centric content to usher in new subscribers.

Personalities of the Kardashian-Jenner family have become familiar faces throughout the pages of Vogue, and the streak continues with the launch of its Discover channel on the mobile messaging application. The Snapchat channel aired for the first time on Sept. 6 with a would-you-rather interview featuring reality star Kim Kardashian West and tips from model Miranda Kerr to appeal to the app?s millennial fan base (see more). 

E! News, the entertainment news broadcast owned by NBCUniversal, also recently debuted one of the first fully produced weekly shows made exclusively for Snapchat yesterday called The Rundown.

The show is part of E!?s larger ?Be Pop Cultured? marketing campaign which included mobile campaigns quizzing users on their pop culture knowledge. The Rundown will continue that campaign, airing weekly on Snapchat every Thursday (see more).

?Well, who wouldn?t want to be on one of the world?s hottest and fastest-growing mobile platforms,? Mr. Standage said. ?The key question for us was whether we could produce content that reflects our editorial values but also feels native to the Discover platform, which really is unique. 

?You can?t just shovel print articles onto it,? he said. ?Anyway, we think we?ve found the right formula, and we?re looking forward to seeing what people think of it.

?[Goldman Sachs] considers The Economist to be a good fit with its brand. They made an ad that leads to an interactive experience, and felt our Discover edition was a logical place to put it. More generally, I think we?re going to see a wider range of publishers and advertisers appearing on Discover in the coming months, as the audience grows and Snapchat seeks to appeal to new readers and new advertisers.?