News in a snap as Sky News and Sky Sports come to Snapchat

11 Feb 2015

Sky has struck a deal with Snapchat to put Sky News and Sky Sports on Snapchat Discover to bring news and sport to millions of young folk across the UK and Ireland.

Aimed at reaching users who use Snapchat on a daily basis and who eschew mainstream social media and news platforms, Sky News and Sky Sports will publish a Snapchat edition each afternoon.

This edition will feature six to 10 distinctive hand-curated snaps that use a combination of images video and text.

Snapchat users will have the option to view long form articles and videos.

“We are huge fans of Sky News and Sky Sports and are grateful for the opportunity to partner with their outstanding team,” said Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel.

The next frontier of news?

Each Sky News and Sky Sports story will be headlined by a top Snap, a 10-second telling of the story and if the user wants to see the long form version they just swipe up on their smartphone.

“Our partnership with Snapchat is very exciting,” said the director of News Output at Sky News.

“We can reach a whole new audience hungry for news in a concise and creative form on a platform they already enjoy.”

Snapchatters who updated their app following the initial Discover launch on 27 January will find Sky News and Sky Sports automatically. Others will need to update their app.

“Sky Sports on Snapchat Discover is great news for those eager for the latest sports news,” said the director of Sky Sports digital media David Gibbs.

“Whether that’s reporting on Daley Blind’s last minute equaliser at West Ham to analysis ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup we are really excited to be one of Snapchat’s partners as people look for new and innovative ways to keep up with what’s happened that day.” 

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com