CNN Unveils a Daily Snapchat News Program

By A.J. Katz 

CNN has partnered with Snapchat Discover for a daily news program called The Update.

The show launches today on Snapchat, and provides a rundown of the top stories from the day featuring videos from CNN reporters and bureaus around the world.

The Update is scheduled to begin streaming on Snapchat Discover each day at 6 p.m. ET and will also produce breaking news segments.

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Adweek’s Jason Lynch writes that each episode will feature five or more stories, all in Snap’s vertical video format—as well as breaking news segments.

The Update won’t have a specific host or anchor, but instead will incorporate reporting from CNN’s anchors and correspondents.

This is just the latest example of the CNN’s commitment to reach younger demographics through a significant investment in digital news.

“We are introducing our brilliant cast of world class anchors and reporters to a young audience in a smart, accessible way with ‘The Update,” said Samantha Barry, CNN’s ep for social and emerging media. “In today’s news environment, people are hungry for news and they want a quick update of where things are at within one tap of their phone. So, we’re serving that up, speaking their language and delivering it in beautiful, vertical, mobile friendly video.”

Snapchat users can find The Update in the Shows section of their Stories pages and subscribe for easy viewing.

The Update is the second daily news program to make its way onto Snapchat in the past 30+ days. The social platform partnered with NBC News for Stay Tuned, a twice-daily news show that premiered on July 18. Stay Tuned attracted more than 1 million subscribers over its first 2 1/2 weeks, and has earned more than 30 million unique viewers to-date.

CNN undoubtedly hopes The Update will at least match, if not surpass, Stay Tuned’s strong start. Something to keep an eye on.

According to Snapchat, nearly 25 total series and over 200 episodes of those Shows have aired on Snapchat. Over 88 million unique viewers have tuned into these Shows, spending a collective 22 million hours watching. There is currently over a Show a day on Snapchat — by the end of the year, Snap expects to have three Shows a day and are currently expanding into a diverse range of genres.

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