Snapchat unveils Simone Biles Original, Cameo partnership, and new inclusivity pledge

By 05/03/2022
Snapchat unveils Simone Biles Original, Cameo partnership, and new inclusivity pledge

Snap’s got a lot going on.

The company’s annual NewFronts presentation ran down current user stats and unveiled the latest original content greenlights and renewals, as usual, but also debuted a new deal with celeb shout-out platform Cameo and revealed it’s implementing an inclusivity pledge for original content partners.

Let’s start with stats.

Tubefilter

Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories

Subscribe

80% of Gen Z watches Snapchat Originals

Snapchat currently has more than 600 million monthly active users, and 332 million daily active users.

Between all these users, it reaches 50% of smartphone users in the U.S., it says. It also reaches 75% of 13-34-year-olds in over 20 countries.

What are those users doing on Snapchat? Well, as has been the case for years, a lot of them are watching the platform’s original programming. Snapchat has more than 150 original series, and says that in the fourth quarter of 2021, more than 80% of the U.S. Gen Z population watched at least one of those shows.

Some are also tuning in for Snapchat’s augmented reality push: It says more than 10 million users watched Breakwater, a series from Snapchat and Verizon that used AR Lenses to give viewers an up close and personal look at a dystopian landscape wrecked by climate change. Its overall library of AR Lenses see 6 million views a day.

Another big crowd-drawer was, probably unsurprisingly, Charli Vs. Dixie, the D’Amelios’ unscripted challenge series. Over 20 million users tuned in for season one, Snapchat says.

Simone Biles’ series will see her tackle new challenges and careers, like beekeeping and DJing

Charli Vs. Dixie is, probably also unsurprisingly, one of the original series Snapchat has renewed for a second season, along with The Me and You Show, which Snapchat pitches as using its homegrown tech to “turn you into the lead actor in funny scenes with your best friends on Snapchat, from dating and relationships to school and the holidays.” Fifty million users watched season one of that series, it says.

Here are all of Snap’s new content announcements (with descriptions provided by the company):

  • DARING SIMONE BILES (unscripted – Propagate Content’s Big Breakfast and Kids at Play)
    Simone Biles, winner of 32 Olympic and World Championship medals and one of the best athletes of all time, is taking all-new risks trying things she’s never done before, from beekeeping to DJ-ing, to prove she is as fearless off the mat as she is on.
  • LA’RON IN A MILLION (unscripted – Leopard USA)
    With one of the fastest growing accounts on Snap, social media star and NAACP Image Award winner La’Ron Hines became a sensation with his hilarious “Are You Smarter Than a Preschooler” videos, and must now find a way to balance his life back at home with his LA dreams and rapid rise to fame.
  • RECLAIM(ED) (unscripted – Eagle Vision)
    Snap’s first Canadian Snap Original dives deep into today’s Indigenous culture with hosts Marika Sila and Kairyn Potts, as they reframe and reclaim cultural traditions and social issues from a Gen Z point of view. From Indigenous-owned and controlled production company Eagle Vision, this new docuseries led by Indigenous creators stars a roster of up-and-coming Indigenous talent.
  • RUN FOR OFFICE (docuseries – Ovrture)
    This documentary series follows eight Gen Z and millennial political candidates – from across America, across the aisle, and across the spectrum of local offices – as they seek elected office in the 2022 Primary and General Elections. Produced in collaboration with Snap’s Policy Team and inspired by the success of Snap’s Run for Office mini that helps Snapchatters run for local offices across the country.

Snap’s pledging inclusivity

The folks making these series and future Snap Originals are asked to take part in Snapchat’s new Equity Partnership Pledge, it announced today.

Per a representative, the pledge wants “partners to commit to supporting Snap in a variety of inclusivity initiatives including diverse staffing both on and off camera and organic partnerships with advocacy groups to assure that Snap Originals are reflective of our community’s diverse voices.”

Production partners already on board include Bunim-Murray Productions, Eagle Vision, Future Studios, Kids at Play, Leopard USA, Liquid Light, Maven, NEO Studios, Ovrture, Portal A, Propagate Content, LLC, Propagate Content’s Big Breakfast, Unanimous Media, 44 Blue Productions, and Red Arrow Company.

And about Cameo…

Last but not least, Snap has sealed a partnership with Cameo.

The Snap x Cameo Advertiser Program will hook up Snap’s stable of advertiser clients with 45,000+ celebrities, actors, pro and college athletes, musicians, reality TV stars, digital influencers, and more from Cameo’s talent pool.

Cameo-ers will make custom short-form video ads for marketers that are specifically formatted to run on Snapchat.

Snap says this program adds on to its Creator Marketplace, which debuted this time last year and is similar to the Cameo program, except hooks brands up with Snapchat creators instead of Cameo talent.

Snap describes the partnership with Cameo as a “first of its kind” for both companies.

Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories

Stay up-to-date with the latest and breaking creator and online video news delivered right to your inbox.

Subscribe