Twitter and Snap push content, creators and incremental reach

Snap and Twitter want TV ad dollars, and they’re talking up their premium content offerings for brands in this year’s NewFronts.

Both platforms have expanded their content offerings through new partnerships with publishers across entertainment, news, sports and other genres. Twitter is bolstering its premium ad offerings around brand-safe content, while Snap is talking about its value when it comes to incremental reach.

And both are making a push for creators, launching new programs and ad offerings for brands.

Content push

Snap is investing more in original content, including a show starring Ryan Reynolds called “Ryan Doesn’t Know,” which garnered over 20 million views last year.

Snap will release several original series with the potential for advertising integrations this year, including “Off the Leash” hosted by Megan the Stallion, and a mix of comedies and dramas. Snap will also launch a show users can be a part of called “Me and You.”

Over 100 million people use Snap’s publisher content hub, Discover, every month; Spotlight, Snap’s Tik-Tok like feature which sources user-generated content, had 125 million monthly active users in Q4.

Snapshows reached over 90% of Gen Zers on the platform and viewers over the age of 35 increased 30% year-over-year in Q4.

Snap will also connect advertisers with creators through its Creator Marketplace program, which will expand to an “open marketplace” in early 2022.

Twitter, on the other hand, is partnering with publishers across entertainment, lifestyle, food, sports, and gaming. Using Amplify, which allows brands to place pre-roll ads next videos from Twitter content partners, advertisers can guarantee placement against exclusive and brand safe content from Billboard, Genius, Refinery29 and Tastemade.

Twitter has also extended partnerships with the MLB, NHL, WBNA and Riot Games to bring viewers live events, highlights, Q&As, co-branded content and sweepstakes. And the platform will amplify NBC Olympics coverage through original daily programming.

NBCUniversal, which signed a global, multi-year content partnership with Twitter in January, will also bring TODAY, CNBC and Noticias Telemundo highlights, live streams Q&As and exclusive content to Twitter, and extend Inspiring America series to Twitter’s Clubhouse copycat feature, Spaces.

Twitter is also making a push for creator content. The platform is re-launching its Digital Creators category, Twitter’s influencer marketing arm. The platform hand-picked established and emerging talent, including Gen Z celebrities and digital creators to create brand safe premium content and its internal content team, Art House, has a goal to hire 50% of U.S. creators from underrepresented groups.

Brand safety + Incremental reach

If advertisers are going to invest their TV budgets in digital, they want to know how many people they’re reaching that they won’t already hit on TV.

That’s where incremental reach, which measures reach on top of an advertisers’ existing TV campaigns, comes in. Snap emphasized that with over 87 million people watching content on its platform each month, it can provide nearly 40% incremental reach among people aged 18 to 34 for sporting events. With nearly 60% of its audience watching less TV, or none at all, Snapchat offered 113% incremental reach to connected TV providers last year.

Advertisers are equally concerned about brand safety, especially on digital. Twitter is pitching a new pre-roll offering called Curated Categories that bundles inventory from curated, premium publishers around specific themes and topics.

The platform is also selling co-branded highlights, which allow brands to integrate their logos or other assets into clips from premium publishers.