Snap takes on Netflix with new short-form 'Originals'
The platform will roll out one five-minute episode a day for each title.
Snap chief Evan Spiegel recently told employees in an internal letter that it's putting a focus on Shows in an effort to achieve full-year profitability in 2019. It looks like the company is going full steam ahead with that strategy, because it has just revealed quite a lengthy list of new scripted originals and docuseries titles. The app will roll out the first episodes for two of the scripted shows and one docuseries sometime today.
Class of Lies revolves around a couple of roommates and true crime podcast hosts as they try to solve their best friend's disappearance. Meanwhile, Co-Ed is an LGBTQ-inclusive show about a group of freshman students navigating their way through college. Finally, Endless Summer follows the lives of influencers Summer McKeen and Dylan Jordan.
While they're far from the first slate of original programming on the platform, these new titles mark the launch of "Snap Originals" as a format. Snap will release one fast-paced, five-minute episode for each title every day. They're short and explosive, because they were specifically created with mobile users in mind, but the platform promises that each episode still has a beginning, a middle and an end. In addition, the company has created interactive augmented reality elements for some episodes to make them fun and immersive.
Later this month, Snap will debut two more titles: The Dead Girls Detective Agency is a supernatural dark comedy about a young woman who must find out how she died. V/H/S, on the other hand, is a horror anthology, while Vivian is a docuseries following the youngest model scout for Wilhelmina.
The other scripted titles in the list that don't have concrete release dates yet are: Bref (the story of a single man trying to live his best life with the least possible effort), Deep Creek (about a group of friends who all have secrets to reveal) and #Vanlife (about a couple who quit their jobs after following the hashtag on social media and finding out that living in a van is not as glamorous as they thought). The final three titles are documentaries: Bringing up Bhabie is about Bhad Bhabie, whom you probably know as the infamous "cash me outside" girl from Dr. Phil. Growing up is a Drag tells the coming-of-age stories of teen drag queens, and Stunt Brothers follows three siblings as they recreate Hollywood movie stunts in their home.
As you can see, that's a pretty big list. You don't have to worry about missing any of them, though: Snap is giving each of them a dedicated profile page. Shows now also have a dedicated carousel within Discovery. Those features make it easy to find episodes you want to watch, especially if you'd rather wait until you have a bunch to binge on.
