SNAPCHAT DISCOVER : the solution for media futur ?

Medias know a very huge transformation : print is less and less important with the development of new technologies and the arrival of social networks. They don’t want to miss the good opportunity. Medias have also more and more diffficults for catch young targets. Indeed, they don’t use traditional ways for getting information but internet. After Facebook and Instagram, a new El Dorado appears for press groups : Snapchat and his new function, Discover.

SELECTIVITY AND QUALITY

There are 191 millions Snapchat users around the world, and 9,6 millions in France. Developed to 20 billion dollars, Snapchat started in 2015, the new function Discover. It’s a “Premium content” space and it should well be understood that does not enter there which wants. Only producing “truths” of contents — TV, press and media Web — there are allowed and Snapchat is shown extremely selective in the choice of its partners. Thus, with the launching of the anglophone version, they were only 11 — of which CNN, MTV and National Geographic — to have satisfied the criteria with the platform, and 18 at the end of the first year. Discover then delivered, by the means of these editors, approximately 160 transitory stories per day. In spite of their lifetime 24 hours, these contents were already seen by 60 million people per month — what to allure many advertisers and to make salivate the French media.
By March 2015, Le Parisien, BFM TV and Le Monde were already, to take again its words, “in the starting blocks”. Of the three quoted media, only Le Monde — approached admittedly by the owner of Snapchat in person — fact part of the eight lucky ones. The other seven are L’Équipe, Paris Match, Cosmopolitain, Vice, Konbini, Melty and Tastemade. Snapchat users can also have access to foreigners partners of Snapchat.

HARMONY BETWEEN ADVERTISING AND INFORMATION

Discover functions as a digital kiosk where the ones of the titles are presented side by side. A click on a newspaper and the user can consult his articles in a format completely optimized for Smartphone, intersected with elegant animations and advertisements. On this last point, Snapchat ensures that a division of the advertising revenues is concluded with the editors from press, but refuses to quantify it. Snapchat between 30% and 50% of the generated income. For them, the windfall is not only financial. Integration on its platform of prestigious French media like “the World” or Melty , put Snapchat on the way to attract new advertisers.

However, put information and advertising can fix some limits as : ad contents more visible than information and show some Snapchat Discovery which have to be better.

HARD CONDITIONS FOR REDACTIONS

For be a partnership of Snapchat, you have some hard conditions : write every day 10 new contents on Discovery, publish 7 days on 7 days, contents in with the visual codes like to the playful spirit and 100 % mobile.

So, medias have to create a team dedicate to Discover : for example, Le Monde, with 7 persons. The editorial board dedicated to Discover had to tame the format 9/16 vertical suitable for the smartphone (including for the videos) and the navigation system at the same time top-bottom and left-right-hand side which it imposes. They also had to learn how to build information and the narration of each story by articulating a “top snap” (1 screen of a story) efficient for itself.

And the last conditions is to Snapchat requires the security of a minimum of advertising turnover, around 448,780 euros for six months and around4.49 million euros for a year.

The users never go on the website of the media with Discover

AND THE LAST POINT…

Also, no official figures about the success or not of Discover were communicated by Snapchat. Just few rumors about Cosmopolitain in United-States, which could have around 20 millions visitors by month,and in France, Melty could be the first one : around 1 millions visitors by day. However, always with those rumors, The Information could lost around 50% percent of it audiance since its introduction on Discover. Snapchat just denied..

It’s still too soon for have any good or negative opinions about this new tool for medias. Discover should be a very innovate way for communicate and touch young target. But since, the new look of Snapchat, which was very criticized, Discovery lost its “originality” and appears with some typical story as tv reality star.