Snapchat is increasing its local investment in “premium” content in a bid to capitalise on new consumer behaviour it helped create.
The social media company partnered with Screen Australia last month to create its first Australian vertical mobile series.
As part of the initiative, Snapchat and Screen Australia will provide up to two teams of filmmakers $15,000 in development funding, as well as a trip to Snapchat headquarters in Los Angeles to workshop concepts.
It follows the trend of social media platforms investing in premium content to provide advertisers with higher quality engagement, rather than just high reach, which is something traditional TV has claimed an edge over.
Kathryn Carter, Snapchat Australia general manager, says producing mobile-first content is important to continue to grab younger consumers who are watching less TV than previous generations.
“Across the years we have been focused and continually committed to investing, iterating and making sure that we're producing world-leading, made for mobile TV-style content, as we've seen with the introduction of Snap Shows and with Snap Originals,” Carter says.
“So we're either partnering with some of the world's best storytellers or now we're looking to tell the stories ourselves, across a range of different areas. From an audience perspective, we can see that this commitment to producing high quality content is absolutely working and resonating with our community.”
Time spent viewing Snap’s premium content has increased 35% year-on-year, a sign to the company that alongside user-generated content, users still want quality shows.
“It’s not that user-generated content isn't enough, but you have to have a look at how people are consuming content and increasingly people are consuming content on their mobile, especially for a Snapchat generation or Gen Z or millennials.
“They want to be entertained, they want to learn, they want to experience and be exposed to a whole variety of different styles of content because that [mobile] is their preferred device for consuming content from that perspective. So it's really important that we are providing that content and continuing our commitment to storytelling across many different genres.”
Kathryn Carter
The new show, expected to roll out by the end of the year, will target 18-24 year-olds and was initiated by US headquarters, a sign of the potential Snapchat sees in the Australian market.
While its international premium content has been relevant to advertisers, particularly through the use of the six-second ad unit, Carter says it’s still committed to local stories.
“Global content is very relevant to advertisers, not just on our platform but more broadly,” she says.
“If you have a look at the type of content which is consumed on television, you can see a heavy mix of global content on that as well. Obviously, the ability to also tell local stories is a priority for us, and the Screen Australia example is the first step in terms of how we'll support that.”
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