When it comes to live entertainment, there may be no substitute for being there - but Snapchat's director of partnerships Ben Schwerin wants to make sure his company can provide the next best thing before its rumoured high-profile IPO in 2017. That means abandoning the choreographed, performance-focused filmography of a professional camera crew in favour of the chaotic, collaborative stream of snaps and snippets from the crowd.
Live Stories allows a Snapchat partner to create a geofenced content hub, granting posting access only to those present at an event. A three-day Live Story around the 2015 Coachella music festival, for example, generated 40 million viewers, and Schwerin has claimed the average audience for a Live Story runs to around 20 million people in 24 hours.
For events where more professional production is required, Schwerin has arranged partnerships with broadcasters. Most notable was one with NBC and BuzzFeed to create highlights coverage of the 2016 Olympics. The result: a third of Snapchat's entire audience, about 49 million people worldwide, tuned into the platform's Olympic coverage within the first seven days, compared to the 27.8 million who watched through NBC's TV channels over the first ten.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
