Millennials are watching news, albeit in smaller bits and bites than their predecessors. That’s good news for “Stay Tuned,” NBC News’ Snapchat show, which was a bit of a gamble when it launched in mid-July.
Since then, the show has attracted more than 30 million viewers — over 40% of whom watch it at least three days a week, according to fresh internal figures. More than 60% of the show’s audience is under 25, according to a company spokeswoman.
But the news unit isn’t taking its early success on Snapchat for granted. “The team is learning from its first month of shows and updating the look and format,” the spokeswoman said.
On Friday, for instance, “Stay Tuned” debuts a new graphics package and logo, while the show’s format now features on-camera guests, as well as on-the-ground reporting from cohosts Savannah Sellers, a correspondent for MSNBC, and Gadi Schwartz, an NBC News correspondent.
Along with breaking-news updates, “Stay Tuned” streams twice every weekday on Snapchat’s Discover service, and once a day on weekends.
Each episode is roughly two to three minutes in length, with four to five segments per show, covering national and international news, politics and pop culture.
To access “Stay Tuned” on Snapchat, users have to swipe left on the Stories or Discover page, and then tap the show’s tile to begin viewing the latest episode. “Stay Tuned” is powered by a 30-person team, led by executive producer Andrew Springer.
Of course, Snapchat isn’t entirely new territory for NBC. Last August, it launched “The Voice” on Snapchat, followed by E!’s “The Rundown,” “World of Dance” and “Saturday Night Live.”
Snap, of course, could use all the publisher support it can get.
Last week, the company failed to meet analyst expectations for the second straight quarter. For the quarter ended June 30, the “camera company” reported a net loss of 16 cents per share on revenue of $181.7 million.
During the period, Snap added about 7 million users — fewer than the roughly 8 million it added during the first quarter of the year, and the 10 million that analysts were anticipating.
In the second quarter, the struggling social network also reported lower-than-expected average revenue per user of $1.05.
