Snapchat and Live Nation Find a Perfect Pairing With Live Stories

Should your brand be on Snapchat? Consider these stats:

• 2/3 of Snapchat users create content daily


• 60 percent of smartphone owners age 13 to 34 have Snapchat installed


• Snapchat gets tens of thousands of video submissions to Live Stories during an event; curators then pick the best 30 to 50

At the inaugural Live Fronts conference in New York City, Ben Schwerin, director of partnerships for Snapchat, and Kevin Chernett, executive vice president of global partnerships and content distribution for Live Nation, talked about what goes into a successful Snapchat brand partnership.

The two companies have worked together on 18 events around the world, leading Snapchat to receive over 1.5 million video submissions from attendees. When Snapchat first started its Live Stories feature, Schwerin said, it did so without any fanfare and was surprised by how many people contributed.

Live Stories is "the next-best thing to being at a live event," Schwerin said. The experience is complementary to an event's live stream. When Harry Styles watched the Live Story from a One Direction content, Schwerin remembered, he said, "Wow, now I finally know what it's like to go to one of my shows."

Snapchat ads are pre-produced and look like TV ads, unlike the Live Stories, themselves. When selling ads on a Live Story, Snapchat's ad team goes to the event's major sponsors first, selling the opportunity as a way to expand their reach. The brand-advertiser-viewer relationship is a win-win-win, Schwerin said. Snapchat provides advertisers with metrics such as engagement, time spent, and number of submissions. Snapchat treats its Live Stories as premium content, and believes brands will pay for adjacency to that content.

Brands can create geo-fenced filters for their live events, something that deepens fan engagement. Fans love to use the filters and show friends where they are, Schwerin said.

"We think it's the best way to get the vibe of what's going on," said Live Nation's Chernett, calling his company's partnership with Snapchat natural and obvious. When his company streams music festivals that aren't well known, they still get millions of views, helping to promote those events.

Live Stories also let the artists themselves get involved, which Chernett called the best marketing. When the artist reaches out to his or her own fan base through the platform, that's unbeatable.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net