Snapchat began as a platform with
purely ephemeral content but has slowly evolved into offering digital media
content with a twist. With more than 700 million snaps sent daily, it has
garnered some serious market power. First, there were personal snaps sent to
friends that lasted mere seconds before disappearing. Then there was the introduction
of curated “stories," which last longer and can be broadcast to a
wider audience, but those still disappear into the Snapchat ether after 24
hours. With January’s introduction of the Discover feature, Snapchat opened the
doors to select media outlets, news channels and lifestyle brands. In the
Discover section of Snapchat, users can peruse snack-sized content from places
like CNN,Foodnetwork, Comedy Central, and National Geographic. And now that
original content includes music videos. Snapchat just entered the music video
house.
Indie artist, Goldroom, released four music videos
this week on Snapchat’s Snap channel, which is accessible on the Discover tab
of the app. Value added services around the music video releases include behind-the-scenes
exclusive content, including making-of videos and interviews, all with special
Snapchat share buttons. With over half of Snapchat users under the age of 25,
debuting original and highly-produced content on this platform (a model quite
similar to Youtube influencers) could be a game-changer for musicians.
And while Madonna released her new music video on Snapchat in February,
what’s different and remarkable about this Goldroom campaign is that all videos
are shot in vertical format to accommodate the way people hold their phones.
Traditional media is bending to mobile media in a serious way.
Cross platform digital
marketing and content creation especially with Snapchat is the new area of
exploration and monetization for other digital platforms. Trying to tap into
the millennial userbase of Snapchat, many brands want in on the Discover
section. But Snapchat seems to be competing with Spotify by entering the
digital music world and Spotify seems to be competing with Snapchat by entering
into video content. It’s turning into a race of the platforms to be the one
stop shop of all digital services that can be provided. Who will win? The one
with the most fierce arc of innovation is set to win in this league of digital
platforms. Snapchat has proved its metal in innovation but so has Spotify! Spotify’s ascent
hasn’t been as rocket ship-fast, but it’s hold in the market has been steady
and consistent, as well as appealing across a wide range of demographics. It
now hosts non-music content like podcasts and video, in addition to predicting
what kinds of playlists you’ll be into and curating a running playlist that
changes with the changing tempo of your workout. Spotify’s first innovation is
using data to become more intelligent. It is using its massive amounts of data
to predict and create playlists around what you’ve already listened to at
specific times of the day .The second innovation is around its running feature which
figures your running pace based on your phone’s sensors and changes the music
in real time to align with that pace. Now its set to enter the digital video
streaming space. Some video content will be exclusive and original from Spotify
and others would include launch partners like Comedy
Central, Vice News, ABC, BBC, ESPN, Elite Daily, and TED.Spotify is
introducing an experience that’s more accessible, personal and more usable than
anything in music. You'll be able to watch clips from shows like Broad City.
But it'll be a full-screen experience, which you watch horizontally. It
is set to compete with Youtube, Vimeo and other video platforms.
So which platform is doing
better?or would they resort to cross platform marketing ? or the platform with
the best technology takes it all away? This mobile war is definitely set to get
more intense and crowded with many smaller apps and players coming into the
battle arena. In the end it’s a play of innovation and technology which provide
the best user experience that’s going to be the deciding factor for the market
share leader in the space of digital video and music.
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