The NFL is "deepening its relationship with Snapchat," as it has "signed on to become the first sports partner for Snapchat Story Explorer," according to Mike Shields of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The feature, rolled out last month, is "an offshoot of Snapchat Live Stories." The NFL and Snapchat announced a partnership in September "through which the two parties co-produce a weekly Live Story, such as a video featuring unique highlights of a Monday Night Football game." Starting with the Live Story tied to Thursday night's Buccaneers-Rams game, each of the weekly clips will also "feature additional user-produced clips via the Explorer function, allowing fans to dig in deeper." This option will be "available each week of the remaining season through Super Bowl 50 in February." For Snapchat, the NFL "provides content from one of the biggest brands in the world, which should help spur usage of Explorer." To date, the NFL said that it has "been receiving tens of thousands of fan-submitted snaps every week for its Live Stories, and those videos are being viewed by millions of fans." Brands "ranging from Bud Light to Gillette to Ford run ads within NFL Live Stories" (WSJ.com, 12/17).
