Snapchat to curate Indian Media content on its Discover feed

The platform unveiled local shows and publisher content alongside several ad formats which will be displayed on the feed.

Snap Inc., makers of Snapchat, a social camera app, announced the introduction of new content on its Discover space, localised and tailored for Indian Snapchatters. The new content will be introduced via partnerships with almost a dozen media brands, all premiering within the app over the coming weeks.

This is the first time Snapchat has offered local publisher content in India and it follows recent announcements of other Discover offerings in the UK, France, Germany, Norway, and the Middle East.

Indian Snapchat Discover partners include news, events and cultural affairs commentary from Brut India, HuffPost India, The Logical Indian, The Quint, and VICE India featuring signature editions from each.

It also features social video and entertainment from Pocket Aces (FilterCopy and Gobble), TVF (The Timeliners, Girliyapa and The Viral Fever) and QYOU (The Q India).

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While music and cultural content is sourced from Saavn's OnRecord, Bollywood and beauty highlights are from MissMalini Entertainment (MissMalini and Beauty BFF).

Rami Saad

Sruthi Gottipati

Aman Sethi

Malini Agarwal

Ashwin Suresh

Anirudh Pandita

Abhishek Mazumdar

Ritu Kapur

Karan Chaudhry

Samira Kanwar

Snap's Discover partners will create made-for-mobile Publisher Stories and TV-like Shows for Snapchat, across multiple genres. All content will be produced in a vertical, full-screen format. The time spent watching shows on Snapchat globally has more than tripled since the beginning of the year. In Q3 of this year, 21 unique shows on Discover reached a monthly active audience of over 10 million viewers. Each media partner will independently create their own editions.

Discover first launched on Snapchat in January 2015 with 18 brand partners and now includes over 100 such partners globally.

Advertisers can also take advantage of several ad formats alongside this premium content, including tiled Story Ads, which are displayed in the Discover feed; Snap Ads, which are full-screen ads that run within Publisher Stories; and Commercials, which are six-second non-skippable video ads that run in Shows. They are available through Tyroo, Snap's local sales partner and also Snap's self-serve Ads Manager, both of which offer several ROI benefits including advanced targeting, robust measurement and price efficiency.

"We are delighted to now offer a more customised Discover experience for the millions of daily Snapchatters in India, welcoming many of the media brands they already know and love. We are passionate about providing Snapchatters with the best content experience on mobile, featuring a diverse mix of credible, local voices alongside some of the best content creators from around the world. By engaging with our growing and creative community in India, most of whom are aged 18-24, local partners will able to inform and entertain the hard-to-reach audience in ways that are native to our platform," says Rami Saad, head of International Content Partnerships, Snap Inc.

"Snapchat Discover presents an opportunity to showcase our journalism. Brut produces compelling stories in creative formats for an audience that has stopped consuming the news on traditional platforms," says Sruthi Gottipati, editor-in-chief, Brut. India.

"We are delighted to partner with Snapchat in bringing HuffPost to new audiences around the world. Our India edition is a strategic priority. Snapchat's announcement gives us the opportunity to reach a new audience and elevate our content using a different mode of storytelling," says Aman Sethi, editor-in-chief, HuffPost India.

"I always say that you have to go where the party is! Snapchat is growing in India, and many of our younger MissMalini fans love the platform because of its unique communication style. We are looking forward to connecting with our followers in a different way as one of Snapchat India's Discover partners," says Malini Agarwal, founder, MissMalini Entertainment.

"This initiative aligns with our mission of solving boredom for India's youth. With our mobile focus and strong community which consumes and shares our content, we are uniquely positioned to produce cutting-edge short-form content for Snapchat," says Ashwin Suresh and Anirudh Pandita, founders, Pocket Aces.

"We are delighted to be among the select few publishers that Snapchat has decided to on-board amongst their first Discover partners in India. It is an association we cherish. We look forward to wonderful synergy from readers and reviewers alike. We look forward to delivering newsworthy content to the Snap community," says Abhishek Mazumdar, co-founder and CEO, The Logical Indian.

"We can't think of a better platform than Snapchat to help deliver our shows to their rapidly growing audience that clearly lives for original digital programming," says Sunder Aaron, GM and co-founder, The Q India.

"The Quint has always believed in experimenting with innovative new formats to converse with its young users. In fact, we have used Snapchat formats and Lenses to create content. And we now see Snapchat Discover as yet another reason for creative experiments and new ways to reach our interactive readers," said Ritu Kapur, Co-founder and CEO, The Quint.

"At TVF, we believe that creating content through multiple touch-points goes a long way in fostering an engaged relationship with viewers. Content consumption in a vertical viewing format is catching up amongst the youth and creating originals in this format is a whole new ball game. This partnership is a perfect opportunity for us to collaborate with like-minded partners and create content that is appreciated and enjoyed. Starting tomorrow, viewers will be able to consume three of our shows - "What a player," "Gossip Girl" and "Style Wagon" - on Snapchat. We will also have a great content slate lined-up over the coming weeks on Snapchat," said Karan Chaudhry, president and COO, TVF.

"Launching on Snapchat is a natural addition to the all-inclusive youth-focused ecosystem we've been building since VICE India's full-scale launch earlier this year. Snapchat offers a valuable millennial-first platform for some of our best work - examining and celebrating the diverse realities of what it means to be young in today's world. VICE has some of the most engaged Discover channels in other global markets and we believe we will have a similar impact here," says Samira Kanwar, head of content, VICE India.