Snapchat is rolling out a new “Dynamic Stories” feature that allows publishers to generate stories on the app based on news stories they publish online. CNN, Bloomberg, ESPN, and others are among the first partners.
The new feature automatically creates and publishes stories on a publisher’s Snapchat Stories based on the publisher’s RSS Feed. The app’s Discover feed will display the automatically generated stories that will be updated in real time.
The fresh layout, according to the business, will let it provide new local content to app users all over the world. The new Dynamic Stories feature is presently being piloted in the US, UK, France, and India.
Results are already being seen by partners. The Washington Post’s reliable, timely coverage of the awful battle in Ukraine attracted nearly 1.1 million Snapchatters in the first week of the crisis. In India, MissMalini’s programming attracted more than 200k unique viewers in the first 30 days of its inception.
Snapchat does not have an open newsfeed that is unmoderated, allowing unvetted individuals or publications to disseminate inaccurate and misleading information to a huge audience. Only verified media publishers and content providers are included in Discover.
Early partners include:
- US: Axios, Bloomberg, CNN, Complex Networks, Condé Nast (Self, Vogue), ESPN, Insider, New York Post, Page Six, Self, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TMZ, Vice, Vogue
- UK: British Vogue, GQ UK, The Independent, The Mirror
- France: Femme Actuelle, Foot Mercato, Gala, GQ France, Le Figaro, Marie Claire FR, Paris Match, Vogue France
- India: GQ India, MissMalini, Pinkvilla, Sportskeeda, The Quint, Times Now, Vogue India
It’s not the first instance where Snapchat has used its platform to spotlight news content. In 2018, Snapchat and ‘NowThis’ announced a partnership that would see the social video news publisher develop a Snapchat channel called ‘NowBreaking’. In June 2018, the channel made its first appearance on Snapchat’s Discover page.
NBC News had previously debuted a daily show on Snapchat in 2017, airing two episodes every day during the week. CNN has started a daily newscast on Snapchat, just like NBC News. This is because CNN wants to copy the success of NBC News.
On the launch of Dynamic stories, Rashmi Daryanani, Media Partnerships at Snap India, said:
By introducing Dynamic Stories, we are presenting the fastest way of publishing premium content to the Snapchat community. Available in the Discover feed, Dynamic stories will use RSS Feeds to create Stories from the content a Publisher is already creating on the web. These stories will be updated in real-time enabling Snapchatters to keep up with the latest happenings 24/7. Moreover, in India, Dynamic Stories will help us in unlocking content in different languages such as English, Hindi, and Marathi. We are also in the process of onboarding various partners across other languages so that one can simply come onto Snapchat and find news content in their preferred languages.
