EXCLUSIVE: Snapchat Developing "Stories Everywhere” to Push Content Outside the App and Grow Users
Snapchat is developing a new product called “Stories Everywhere” with a goal of making Snapchat Stories available outside the app for the first time and kick-starting the app’s stagnant user growth, Cheddar has learned from a person familiar with the matter.
To lead the effort, Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., has hired Rahul Chopra, the former Senior Vice President and Global Head of Video at News Corp, who recently was CEO of the media conglomerate’s social data agency Storyful.
While Stories Everywhere is still in the early stages of development, Chopra has the important task of figuring out how to finally distribute the app’s wealth of user-generated content on the web and elsewhere. The project could mean that Snapchat makes it easier to share videos on other platforms through a web player that also prompts people to sign up and download the app, the person familiar with the matter told Cheddar.
The move echoes Twitter’s 2011 decision to allow content publishers to embed tweets in articles and blog posts.
Snap has also contemplated allowing other apps to access its feeds of user-generated videos, which are curated by algorithms and Snap employees, for everything from breaking news events to sports games. Opening up its content to other apps could potentially give Snap a way to make money off content licensing at a time when the young company is under pressure from investors to grow revenue.
Additionally, Snap has restructured its expanding content division and added more key roles under the leadership of VP Nick Bell:
* Mike Su, the former Chief Product Officer at Latino-focused digital publisher Mitú, now oversees all of Snap’s content-related product development, including tools for media partners. “This will allow him to oversee the product changes needed to help our partners build sustainable businesses on Snapchat,” Bell said in an internal memo seen by Cheddar and sent to Snap employees last week.
* Snap’s Michael DiBenedetto will now lead the content team’s strategy and operations. In his memo to employees, Bell called the newly-created position “an extremely important role as we look to drive operational efficiency and deliver on our 2018 plan.”
* Former NowThis president Sean Mills will continue to oversee Snap’s original content efforts, including its rapidly growing list of exclusive shows from the likes of NBC and ESPN. In addition, Mills now oversees all programming for the redesigned Snapchat app’s Discover feed of video content, which is being slowly made available to users.
* Longtime Snap employee Josh Stone now leads all media company relations. Stone joined Snap in 2013 and helped lead the company’s initial rollout of the Discover page in 2015. He reports to Ben Schwerin, Snap’s VP of Partnerships.
In a separate memo sent to Snap employees and reviewed by Cheddar, Bell outlined his content team’s goals for 2018. They include: increase the overall output of content in the redesigned Discover feed, widen content distribution, and double-down on news. Snapchat’s previously announced redesign, which includes the new Discover feed of professional and user-generated videos, is still only active for a small percentage of users.
A Snap spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
A new report from CNBC says Instagram recently reached a new milestone -- 2 billion monthly active users. It comes amid a year of controversy for the photo-sharing app and its parent company, Meta. SocialFlow CEO Jim Anderson joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
A report from KPMG International found that global mergers and acquisitions in 2021 reached $5.1 trillion in transactions. Carol Streicher, U.S. deal advisory and strategy service group leader for KPMG, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to talk about the record-breaking year and next year's outlook, which KPMG says could be even more staggering. "We're not seeing any slow down in '22," she said, regarding survey results of 350 business leaders. "Things that were tailwinds for us in M&A activity this past year are going to continue to be tailwinds for us in 2022."
MotorTrend named the Rivian R1T as the 2022 truck of the year - a prestigious title given by the publication as a way for automakers to tout third-party validation. Rivian beat out traditional, legacy truck favorites like Ford and General Motors.
MotorTrend said the company earned high marks for safety, efficiency, value, advanced design, engineering excellence, and performance of intended function. MotorTend head of editorial Ed Loh joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Stocks closed higher Wednesday on the heels of the Federal Reserve's December meeting. Chairman Jerome Powell announced the central bank would leave interest rates low and unchanged for now, with the anticipation of three hikes next year. The Fed will also speed up the timeline of its asset tapering, beginning in January 2022. Dan Russo, Portfolio Manager and Director of Research at Potomac Fund Management joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's close, how investors reacted to the Fed's announcements, and more.
There is a new way for investors to bet on cannabis - the AdvisorShares Poseidon Dynamic Cannabis ETF targets about 20 of the biggest names in U.S. cannabis. It comes at a time when it's still difficult for investors to access the space. Cheddar News cannabis reporter Chloe Aiello spoke with co-founder and managing director for Poseidon Investment Management, Emily Paxhia.
Victor Li, an economics professor at the Villanova School of Business, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he discusses the latest Fed decision and the implications it has on the stock market.
Danvas is a new company that aims to bring NFTs and digital artwork into the real world through an interactive, museum-quality display. The company says its product is the first premium, luxury digital art canvas, which it hopes will accelerate the world's appreciation of digital artists and their work, and empower collectors to acquire more NFT art. Danvas also just announced its launch this week, with a $7 million seed round from some big-name backers. Danvas co-founder and CEO Jeanne Anderson joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The California-based tech company specializing in enterprise cloud-based data analysis of connected internet of things (IoT) has gone public on the NYSE, and Samsara's CFO Dominic Phillips told Cheddar's Kristen Scholer that the timing was right for the public offering for the firm's next phase of growth. "We're going to continue to add to our go-to-market motion, we'll continue to build out our international presence, we'll continue to add more selling capacity specifically as we look to penetrate larger enterprise customers, and we'll look to continue to deploy money in R&D," he said.
Mark Sebastian, CIO of Karman Line Capital, breaks down the Gamestops profitability hurdles and provides an outlook on the company's turnaround strategy.
