Seven West Media adds Snapchat to its Rio 2016 Olympics coverage

Seven is bringing the Rio 2016 Olympics to Snapchat, the start-up best known for its disappearing photos.

Snapchat is the latest vehicle for Seven West Media

Seven West Media is bringing the Rio 2016 Olympics to Snapchat, the Los Angeles-based start-up valued at $US20 billion ($26.8bn) that is best known for its dis­appearing photos.

The tie-up marks one of the first major deals in Australia for Snapchat as it closes the gap with Facebook in the social networks’ battle for scale in video.

By bringing Olympics-related content to Snapchat users for the first time, the initiative offers Seven a vehicle to reach coveted millennial consumers on their home turf, with the app boasting 100 million daily active users.

The collaboration, called Snapchat Live Stories, seeks to capture key moments in and around the Games including ­impromptu snaps from fans, organisers and even athletes.

Seven’s chief digital officer, Clive Dickens, said the move would “bring the Olympics to life for mobile Australians” in a ­“dynamic and innovative” way.

“The Live Stories will give Australians a way to inhabit the Olympic Games as if they were there and experience all of the Rio excitement,” Mr Dickens said.

Snapchat generates revenue from advertising, including photo and video ads that appear in ­stories, a series of snaps that last 24 hours. Until recently, it had no revenue model but Snapchat has caught the attention of advertising executives through its Discover news platform, a partnership with media groups including Hearst and CNN.

If the hype is to be believed, Snapchat may have created an ­advertising model that generates higher advertising rates than rivals Facebook and YouTube.

Seven’s media rights deal with the International Olympic Committee covers free-to-air broadcast television and radio as well as ­online and mobile, and other platforms including social media. The AFL TV rights holder is using the Olympics as a test bed for new forms of viewing in the digital age by broadcasting 2500 hours of Olympics content across all platforms from August 5. Viewers can also watch the two-week event via an online subscription service costing $20-$25, delivered through the Seven Olympics app.

Seven chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette said: “Some of the greatest stories to be told will ­unfold during the Olympic Games. This deal will allow those stories to be told and shared in new ways, for the fans and our advertisers, like never before.

“This underlines our approach in ensuring we continue to secure the audiences advertisers are seeking, no matter how or where our audiences engage with our content, broadening our audience ­delivery across devices and leverage the strength of our broadcast television platform.”