Snapchat ahead of its IPO on Thursday "revealed how big its NFL audience is for the first time since solidifying its extensive partnership with the league, which drew 42 million unique U.S. viewers last season," according to sources cited by Garett Sloane of AD AGE. NFL Dir of Digital Media Business Development Blake Stuchin said, "With Snapchat, we saw this company that was growing quickly and it was reaching this growing audience of young people. And it's a very engaged audience of young people and a different form factor than you see in other places." Sloane noted the NFL had been one of Snapchat's "closest sports collaborators," dating back to when it "first showed highlights" from the '15 Draft. The NFL last season "started posting videos from inside select games to live stories in Snapchat, offering an inside perspective on game day from the sidelines and the stands." Research firm eMarketer believes the 42 million unique viewers "represented a big portion of Snapchat's U.S. user base," which was 61.7 million in '16. The NFL also is a "major revenue driver for Snapchat," which had been selling ad packages ranging from $225,000-$5M. NFL content had around a "dozen sponsors throughout the season, including Bud Light, Gatorade, Pepsi, Amazon and others." Gatorade and Pepsi also "ran Sponsored Lenses during the Super Bowl." The NFL during the playoffs began "offering lenses that put helmets on people's selfies, generating 76 million views for the league over two weeks" (ADAGE.com, 3/2).
BUY NOW: CNBC.com's Andrew Ross Sorkin cites sources saying that NBCUniversal invested $500M in Snap during its IPO as part of a "strategic investment and partnership." The stock allocation by Snap to NBCU "appears to be the only one made to a new strategic investor," which would make NBCU the "only U.S. media company with a stake." Other companies could "buy shares in the open market." In total, NBC has spent about $1.5B on "digital assets in the past 18 months." NBC worked with Snapchat on the Rio Games in "partnership with BuzzFeed." Sources said that NBCU "agreed to hold the shares for at least a year" (CNBC.com, 3/3). NBCU President & CEO Steve Burke in a memo to staff on Friday wrote the company is "already planning an expanded partnership with SnapChat and Buzzfeed" for the '18 PyeongChang Games (DEADLINE.com, 3/3).
