Time Warner is the latest broadcaster to ride Snapchat's coattails
It just struck a deal to make short original shows for the social app.
Snap seems to have no trouble scoring giant media deals. The social app creator has forged a $100 million, 2-year agreement that will have Time Warner making short-form original shows (around 3 to 5 minutes per episode) for Snapchat viewers. While it's still too early to know what those shows will entail besides a variety of genres, Time Warner will make as many as ten shows per year. You can also expect to see a lot of related ads: the company has promised to buy promos for HBO, Turner and Warner Bros. content.
This isn't Snap's first major video deal by any stretch. It has arrangements with ABC, ESPN, NBC and numerous other networks. However, the sheer volume of shows could help. As Variety notes, Snap wants to go from premiering one new original episode per day to three by the end of 2017. It won't get there through the Time Warner deal alone, but this is an important step. And there's certainly motivation to hurry -- Facebook is preparing originals that could compete directly for the attention of Snapchat's young audience.
