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.
Chinese regulators are reportedly behind China-based ride-hailing company DiDi exiting from the New York Stock Exchange, just days after listing earlier this year. The regulators stated prior that DiDi had not received the necessary clearances to list in the states. Gordon Chang, Asian affairs expert, joined Cheddar to break down what the delisting says about the relationship between nations. "This really strikes me as an attempt to really to force a decoupling of China and the U.S. in the financial markets," Chang said.
Hologram communication platform maker PORTL is looking to take communication to the next level. Founder and CEO David Nussbaum joined Cheddar to talk about the company's recent $12 million Series A funding round that will be used to bring the concept of holoportation to market. Nussbaum noted his hologram technology is just not comparable to augmented reality or virtual metaverses because the image projection is happening in real-time and in actual reality. "Well, unlike VR or AR, we're 'R.' We're real. You don't need a headset. You don't need wearables. You don't need to download anything. It's incredible," he said.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales stopped by Cheddar's "Between Bells" to talk about his Birth of Wikipedia auction at Christie's putting two items linked to the origins of Wikipedia up for sale. On the auction block are his original strawberry iMac that was used to create the long-running online encyclopedia and what Wales described as an interactive NFT of his first Wikipedia edit rather than a static image. "Once it's been sold, the owner can turn it on, and anyone can edit the page and it will be reflected in the NFT," he said.
On this episode of Your Future Home, Carmine Satabella, Interior Designer & Television Host, joins to break down how to get the most out of your winter decor this year and basic kitchen fundamentals that go a long way; Max Child, CEO and co-founder of Volley, discusses the rise of voice games and how tech is continuing to change smart homes; Cheddar breaks down everything you need to know about how to start flipping homes.
China-based DiDi is delisting from the New York Stock Exchange after Chinese officials reportedly asked the ride-hailing company to do so. It will instead list on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
U.S. Futures were pointing to a higher open to round out the week despite a miss on the November Jobs Report, which showed slower job growth than expected-- and as the omicron variant continues to spread across the country. Patrick Healey, Founder & President at Caliber Financial Partners joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
It's a mixed bag for the November jobs report. Hiring slowed last month as employers only added 210,000 jobs, massively missing the estimate of 550,000. But there was one bright spot: the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, with the number of unemployed people dropping to 6.9 million. Both of those numbers are considerably down from their highs at the end of the 2020 recession. Heather Boushey, a member of President Biden's Council of Economic Advisers, joined Cheddar to discuss the report and the state of the country's ongoing economic recovery.
