DTVE Interview: Lucy Luke, head of UK partnerships, Snap

Lucy Luke (Snap)

During a record year of sports, the gen-z skewed social media network Snapchat owned by Snap, have played an instrumental role in providing exclusive short-form content from major sporting events to younger audiences, from the FIFA Women World Cup 2023, Wimbledon to the Rugby World Cup 2023. While that all has come to an end, going into next year, with the upcoming Paris Summer Olympics 2024, Paralympics, and the UEFA Euro 2024 , sport will continue to be a key a priority for the company.

Looking ahead, UK head of partnerships at Snap, Lucy Luke tells DTVE, “Sport is going to be huge for Snap in 2024”.

Snap recently announced as part of an extended deal with Channel 4 it will host content from the broadcaster’s coverage of the Paralympics 2024 on Snapchat. During the global renowned sporting event, the Paralympics will be delivered across 300 short form edits on the Snapchat app.

“We are going to ensure that we have official coverage as much as possible around key tentpole moments within sports,” says the Snap exec.“The programming for the Olympics; we are deep in the thick of it. Now we’re planning so there’ll be lots more to share coming up on that.”

Sports has been key in driving engagement across the platform, with sport video content on Snapchat reaching so far 200 million viewers, according to Luke. She also reveals the company has plans to provide content on the Summer Olympics 2024 and the Euros, with further details to be later announced.

Commenting on building user engagement she says, “This really plays into how friends and family are coming to the platform to not only watch that content, but also to communicate with each other within the app around those tentpole moments. This is why it’s such a significant focus for us next year with the Olympics coming up.”

Discover

Snapchat’s longer form episodic content is situated within the fourth tab – Discover tab under Stories. Content produced by a selection of global partners – including news outlets, media companies, creators, sports teams/leagues, broadcasters and more. Shows will then be tailored for Snapchat audiences redeveloped into short form content, with episodes running from three to five minutes. Content partners can also monetise their shows on Discover, where Snapchat runs a mix of ad formats during shows.

Luke explains, “You need to think of the fourth tab as like being a TV show in your mobile phone in short form, high-quality vertical video that tells stories and is in episodic format.”

Founded in 2011, in the UK Snap currently has active partnerships with broadcasters and content providers such as BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4 and Paramount Global. Along with partnerships with digital first publishers such as Lad Bible, COPA90 and Brave Bison. The company recently teamed up with BBC Studios to host made-for-mobile, short-form content on the app. Highlights and behind the scenes content from BBC Studios’ leading shows, including Top Gear and EastEnders as well as science and nature content from BBC Earth were published on the app. BBC Studios’ newly created channel Funny Parts also debuted on Snapchat.

As part of its partnership with C4, Snapchat also features programming from the pubcaster’s hit shows, including First Dates, Married At First Sight UK, Hollyoaks, Celebs Go Dating, Made In Chelsea and Tattoo Fixers.

“You can come watch Love Island, highlights from the Women’s World Cup 2023, and can learn about the news agenda from the day. And this is how we ensure that our massive active audiences that come to watch snap, are consuming content that they’re interested in,” says Luke.

Audience

Luke highlights, its partnerships with linear broadcasters which face a declining audience of younger demographics, can leverage Snapchat’s services to tap into an audience that they are not able to reach directly via their own platforms.

“The strategy is working with our partners such as publishers and broadcasters to make sure that they’re building their businesses and reaching that unique audience. That is helping them with the best practices, making sure that they use our tooling to understand how that content is performing, and then ensuring that if they want to make revenue off it, they can do so through the advertising that’s put in between those videos,” she explains.

Rooted in Youth culture, Snapchat’s short form vertical video content has been proven attractive to Gen-Zs and Millennials. The social media app currently reaches over 90% of 13-to 24-year-olds. Speaking on the rise of online viewing and the increasing attraction of short form content, Luke highlights amidst the current digital era we live today the way viewers are consuming content and the current demands for content have changed significantly.

“These heritage media broadcasters that are now on Snap have to be really creative in the way that they produce short form vertical video, in order to reach those unique audiences that we have on Snapchat” she notes. “So I think if publishers and broadcasters would want to stay ahead of this. They need to be producing content for people where they are. And that is Snapchat, in the format that they’re looking for, which is to point short form video.”