It looks like sweet, innocent Snapchat is dabbling in the dark arts of branded content to make sure that your inbox is never empty again. (Though let’s be honest here, Snapchat was never that innocent. I’ve seen what you people send each other!) Since Snapchat introduced the possibility of advertising earlier this year, it’s been reaching out to dozens of brands to build partnerships. According to a report in Digiday you may soon find original content from familiar names like ESPN, Vevo, and Buzzfeed filling up your inbox alongside your regular selection of selfies and scandalous nudes.
Snapchat has already experimented with branded content. To date, this content mostly featured live events including sports and concerts. The FIFA World Cup was one of the first to benefit from direct access to Snapchat’s massive user base. Newer content is not expected to clog users inboxes, instead it will be featured in a new section called “Discover.” Though only ESPN and Vevo have confirmed their involvement a mock-up of the Discover feature obtained by Digiday includes top internet content creators like Buzzfeed, Comedy Central, Spotify, and Vice.
The new branded content will also play by Snapchat’s most important rule: Posts will disappear permanently after a few seconds. Rather than forcing ads and branded content on users, Snapchat is hoping that the new feature will be a destination that users want to visit to consume more content from their favorites. It also means that some of the web’s top content pros are going to be honing their Snapchat game, raising the bar for the app’s growing community of homegrown creators.
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