Everybody under the age of 50 is walking around with Smartphones these days. It is the most important device in our lives, allowing us to communicate in hundreds of ways. Snapchat, a popular visual app among younger users, has been rising through the social media ranks.

Last week, Snapchat added another platform to its application called Snapchat Discover, which features a multitude of partners including People Magazine, National Geographic, Comedy Central and Yahoo! News. The sports crowd is also being served with the United States users getting exclusive content from ESPN, while international fans are privy to exclusive Bleacher Report media, according to Michael Tunney of Techgraphs.com.

For those unfamiliar with Snapchat, it is a social media app which allows users to take photos, then send them out either to all their “friends” (contacts within the app) or simply select who gets to see the pictures. The pictures disappear within 10 seconds forever, unless they are added to the individual’s story. Photos loaded into the story can be viewed for 10 seconds at a time, for 24 hours.

The Discover medias aren’t viewed the same way. For example, ESPN has a teaser on Todd McShay’s NFL mock draft which came out Thursday morning. If you want to see the entire 3:30 clip, you can swipe upwards on the face of the Smartphone.

Here is another example of exactly how the Discover platform works:

Snapchat makes money off advertisements on the platform, although they are not overly taxing to the overall experience. For ESPN and Bleacher Report, this is simply another way to reach the younger demographic which no longer has the patience to sit through an hour long SportsCenter.

Now more than ever, people in the 18-54 age demographic wants to see the same amount of information but in a quick, witty and accessible fashion. ESPN has been very aggressive in going after millennials in recent years (see: WatchESPN) with Snapchat being the latest endeavor.

The challenge for ESPN will be educating people, telling them to go to Snapchat for their sports news. When most fans pick up their Smartphones and look for sports information, they check out Twitter, sports-specific apps and Facebook before all else.

[Techgraphs]

About Matt Verderame

Matt Verderame, 26, is a New Yorker who went to school at the frozen tundra of SUNY Oswego. After graduating, Verderame has worked for Gannett and SB Nation among other ventures.

Comments are closed.