3rd April 2020
POV: Snapchat Launches App Stories
Background:
Snapchat has launched an App Stories feature which allows users to share their Snapchat Stories to other platforms and apps. Snapchat initially announced the plan for App Stories at its Partner Summit a year ago. Now, developers can sign up to add stories to their apps.
Details and Implications:
Users can share the Stories they create on Snapchat to platforms that have partnered with Snap and also share the content only to those platforms, not with their friends on Snapchat.
App Stories is part of the growing ‘Snap Kit’ platform that allows developers to use Snapchat’s login, Bitmoji, camera effects and now Stories. Snap said it added more than 150 partner-app integrations via Snap Kit during Q4.
The first partners to use the new product are dating app Hilu, social video app Triller, video-calling app Squad and AR app Octi. One app missing in this launch is Tinder, which was originally featured in the App Stories preview. Tinder uses Snapchat’s Bitmoji stickers but for some reason has decided against App Stories. These apps are using Snapchat Stories in slightly different ways on their platforms. For example, in Squad, users can co-watch Stories along in the screen-sharing option. App developers can choose to keep Stories live for up to seven days rather than the standard 24-hour limit.
App Stories makes it easy for third-party developers to include a Stories feature on their own platforms therefore bringing Snap’s content to more places, in particular to those who don’t already use Snapchat. This will potentially grow Snapchat’s user base and will also allow Snapchat to play a bigger role in Stories, a format that Snapchat created but has been adopted by many social media giants in their own versions since, such as Instagram and Facebook.
The launch of App Stories also presents Snap with the opportunity to expand its advertising outside of its own app.
Ben Schwerin, VP of partnerships at Snap, said that there is: ‘potential for monetization in App Stories but not yet’. Third-party apps won’t have ads to begin with but Snap is launching Ad Kit which will allow other apps to run Snap’s ads on their own platforms. There is no launch date for Ad Kit but app developers can already request early access to Ad Kit.
Summary:
There is sure to be interesting opportunities for advertisers as Snap continues to develop more partnerships with other apps through App Stories.
Whilst there is no monetization yet, it appears that there may be plans to do this soon which could provide advertisers with another great touchpoint with consumers using this engaging format.
Further Reading