Snapchat and Turner expand partnership to bring more original TV shows and live coverage

Snapchat parent company Snap Inc and Turner are expanding their existing partnership to bring more original shows from Turner-owned channels to the photo-sharing platform. Announced on Tuesday (7 December), the partnership will also introduce a new Bleacher Report Discover channel for daily sports coverage in the US version of the app on 4 January, 2017.

Both companies will develop exclusive shows from Turner-owned TBS, Adult Swim, Great Big Story, TruTV and Super Deluxe. CNN has also committed to expand its own offerings through more daily content.

"Millions of Snapchatters value the authoritative and credible reporting by CNN and Bleacher Report every day and we are excited about offering more frequent news updates and expanding Bleacher Report's Discover coverage to the US," Snap VP of content Nick Bell said in a statement. "We're also thrilled to be building on two years of our Live Story coverage of March Madness with expanded sports content."

The financial terms of the deal were not revealed.

In March, Snapchat signed a multi-year deal with Turner Sports to bring major events from the NBA, Major League Baseball, professional golf and boxing on the popular vanishing message service's Live Story feature, starting with March Madness.

The companies also renewed their March deal for Snapchat to continue churning out Live Stories focusing on sports events that will feature coverage from Turner's sports shows including the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Championship and the PGA Championship.

Turner said the latest deal is a "strategic move for Turner" to cater to the platform's growing millennial audience.

"Snapchat is a powerful outlet to directly connect with the millennial generation and perfectly aligns with our portfolio-wide strategy to engage with audiences at every touch point," David Levy, president of Turner, said in a statement.

Boasting more than 150 million daily active users globally, the latest deal falls in line with Snap's strategy to create more original content and partner up with media and sports companies eager to tap into the app's millennial audience.

"Young people, in particular, are not always receptive of sitting through a four-hour traditional game broadcast," Bleacher Report president Rory Brown told Mashable. "They're more passionate about what Cam Newton is wearing during the press conference. Capturing those moments is what we do best. Why we're really excited about this enhanced relationship with Snapchat is there's a ton of overlap demo."

Earlier this year, Snapchat teamed up with Viacom to extend a deal that would allow the latter to sell advertising on the photo and video-sharing platform and bring MTV and Comedy Central's Discover channels worldwide.

Snap, which is preparing to go public early next year, also signed a deal with Comcast's NBC Universal in August to produce original shows for the app including The Voice on Snapchat, based on the popular reality singing show The Voice. Other shows will include The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live.