Social Media Apps Snapchat, Vine Provide Snippets Of Best Sports Highlights

Snapchat this week "launched 'Discover,' a new feature that highlights stories and videos," and the app is "selling ads against media provided by networks such as ESPN," according to Rich McCormick of THE VERGE. Discover "features videos, articles, and photos cherry-picked from these networks to appeal to Snapchat's young-skewing userbase." ESPN on Discover "mixes a few Sportscenter Top 10 highlights in between pages that show heavily designed stats from different leagues." McCormick: "Playing off of the daily structure of Snapchat's stories, basically every edition's final page is used to encourage users to come back in 24 hours" (THEVERGE.com, 1/27). ADWEEK's Karen Fratti wrote for news organizations like Vice and Fusion, "it's a great way to expand your audience." For TV nets, "it’s an effective outlet to preview and market new content and repurpose the old." Fratti: "No one has to leave the Snapchat world to share a funny video or a Super Bowl highlight." The feature is ad-supported by BMW, so "expect a lot of glossy car commercials, or what Snapchat calls 'gorgeous advertising'" (ADWEEK.com, 1/27).

SHORT & SWEET: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Ben Cohen writes Vine has "redefined how people watch sports in the age of social media." With videos "limited to six seconds, they are long enough to show a full play, yet short enough to consume anywhere." This season in the NBA, they have "served as a second screen that never existed for all of the action that previously went overlooked." It has become "almost impossible to follow the NBA closely without spending a few seconds every night re-watching what happened in Vine form." Vines also have "provided a window into moments that telecasts miss, or gloss over." Cohen: "The catchiest Vines are short, funny and telling. They are symbolic of something that doesn’t fit into a six-second clip." The rise of Vine-like media in NBA circles "reflects the changing consumption habits of the modern sports fan." The NBA "has more Twitter and Vine followers than any American sports league" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/29).