Dive Brief:
- James Corden, host of the "Late Late Show" on CBS, is joining Snapchat's growing roster of TV-style short-form video series this fall, according to an exclusive by Variety. Corden will appear in a six-episode series satirizing reality show competitions that pretend to look for his replacement as a late-night host.
- The series is the first collaboration between CBS and Snapchat's Discover platform that features Snapchat Shows and publisher content. NBCUniversal, Disney, Vice and MGM also have partnered with the social media platform to create original programming.
- Corden is not the only talk-show host carving out a spot on Snapchat. Conan O'Brien is also coming to the platform as a producer on an animated series. Jimmy Fallon appeared in a Snapchat offshoot of NBC's "Tonight Show" last November and "Late Night" host Stephen Colbert first promoted his show on Snapchat two years ago.
Dive Insight:
James Corden joins the fray of hosts experimenting with original programming for Snapchat Shows as broadcast TV struggles to find its next generation of loyal viewers. Corden already has a strong presence with short-form video content on other social platforms like YouTube, where the "Late Late Show" has 10 million subscribers, so the migration to Snapchat should come with relative ease.
As much as Snapchat needs original programming to keep users on its app, Hollywood needs the platform to reach the younger demographics who are generally glued to their smartphones instead of television screens. Snapchat already has a strong pull with the young audiences advertisers covet, with 75% of daily viewers being between the ages of 13 to 24, according to eMarketer. The average Snapchat user returns to the app 18 times a day, Variety reported.
Snap Inc., Snapchat's parent company, doesn't license Snapchat Shows' content from producers. Instead, its partner networks fund the shows themselves and split ad revenue.
NBCUniversal clearly sees a future in social media’s potential, having invested $500 million in the initial public offering of Snap in March. Meanwhile, average traditional TV viewing fell 6.5% last year to 20 hours and 11 minutes a week, according to Nielsen data. The biggest drop in TV viewing was seen among teenagers. They watched 13 hours and 54 minutes of traditional TV a week in Q4, an 11% decline from the prior year and a 38% drop from five years ago, the Nielsen data show.
Still, Snapchat faces impediments to video adoption. In April 2017, a JPMorgan Chase survey found that two-thirds of surveyed Snapchat users never watch video ads on the platform, while 73% said they never interact with Snap Ads by swiping up to access more content.