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MGM Snap Technology

Snapchat inks deal with MGM to develop original programming as it ramps up mobile TV offering

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By Rebecca Stewart, Trends Editor

March 21, 2017 | 3 min read

Snapchat has inked a deal with MGM television to develop and produce original content for its Discover platform.

SNAPCHAT DISCOVER FEATURE

Snapchat inks deal with MGM to develop original programming as it ramps up mobile TV offering / Snapchat

The partnership marks Snapchat's first collaboration with a major entertainment studio, adding to the arrangement Snap already has in place with a number of leading networks like NBC, ESPN and the BBC.

Unique content from MGM will now sit within the platform's Discover section for publishers, with the offering taking on the format of a Snapchat Show. The standalone programming will tell "a complete narrative" in four to five minutes and shows will be shot with Snapchat's predominantly young audience in mind.

The Snap Inc-owned messaging app has made no secret of its ambitions to ramp up its mobile TV offering. As well as advertising deals, the company has inked a slew of content partnerships with some of the world’s biggest entertainment owners including Viacom and NBCUniversal.

MGM has remained tight-lipped about what programming it will bring to the platform, but in recent years the TV giant has produced shows like Fargo and mined its film library to create IPs like MTV's Teen Wolf. It also has the rights to popular franchises like James Bond and The Hobbit.

What the company has said is that the deal will include concepts that are both new IP, as well as existing IP that are "reimagined for a whole new audience," and that shows are being developed for a wide range of formats, including documentaries, reality TV, scripted and unscripted, comedies and dramas.

"The team at Snap is thinking about mobile TV differently than anyone else in this space. They are innovators, and it presents us with a unique opportunity to flex our development and production muscle in a whole new way." said Barry Poznick, President of Unscripted Television MGM. "We are excited to create content for their vast and hard to reach audience that consumes entertainment in a very specific fashion."

While content deals are helping Snapchat close that gap between TV and mobile some experts believe the app's main draw is still the potential to have an audience spend time and interact with brands in a full screen through Lenses, Filers and video ads.

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