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You’ll soon see a few more publishers in Snapchat’s Discover feature.
The social network is planning to add two or three new media partners to the mix sometime next week, while simultaneously cutting ties with the same number of existing partners to make room, according to multiple people familiar with the plans.
A second group of new publishers will show up on Snapchat in late August or early September, these people said.
Among those scheduled to join Discover are BuzzFeed and Vox.com, although not necessarily at the same time. Vox is scheduled to join Discover in the late summer group, according to sources. It’s unclear when BuzzFeed will debut on the service. Snapchat is talking to a wide range of other publishers as well, including Mic and Refinery29, although sources say Refinery29 is no longer in those discussions. (Vox.com is part of Vox Media, which also owns Re/code.)
Warner Music is one of the current partners that will be removed from Discover, according to multiple sources, and another current partner, Food Network, is still on the bubble.
A spokesperson from Snapchat declined to comment, as did representatives for BuzzFeed, Warner Music, Vox and Food Network.
Snapchat launched Discover back in January and began hosting video and photo content for publishers like ESPN and CNN as a way to show investors it could be more than a simple photo and video messaging app. The pitch: Teenagers are spending lots of time within Snapchat, so why not give us your content and we’ll do our best to make sure they see it. It’s a demographic that publishers covet, but aren’t always able to reach.
Discover also served as a second revenue stream for Snapchat, which is trying to live up to a reported $16 billion valuation. Initial ad prices around Discover were incredibly high, but have since settled down to a more comparable industry level.
New Discover partners seem to be a sign that both Snapchat and the publishing industry are at the very least intrigued by what they’ve seen so far from the product. Gauging Discover’s performance most likely depends on whom you talk to. Some partners that Re/code spoke with have been very pleased with the traffic and engagement, but that’s not a universal feeling. Discover drove significant traffic at launch, as many as one million views per day on some channels. But the company made a design change last week to include Discover content on a second page within the app to increase its prominence and make it easier to find.
The partnerships are a relatively serious commitment, too. Most publishing partners have to hire full-time editors who produce content specifically for Snapchat — Vox just posted three Snapchat-specific job openings last week — and publishers make more money if they bring in advertisers for their channel. In other words, it pays to spend time and effort on the content.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
