Snapchat scraps original content channel

In a statement to Deadline, the company said, “Given that we are winding down the Snap Channel, it’s natural that Marcus would want to explore other opportunities”. He came from Fox where he was co-senior vp comedy development, overseeing shows including The Mindy Project and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Snapchat’s USP is that its messages vanish without a trace. Wiley and the original Snap Channel team were given the tasks of creating the foundation for Snap Channel 2.0, but after an evaluation on what the relaunch would need in terms of monetary investments, Snapchat chose to pause its original content initiatives.

Deadline reports that, after Snap Channel was pulled from Snapchat’s ad-supporting Discover tab, it was thought that a new, improved version was in the offing.

It added: “He is a tremendous talent, and we wish him well”.

For now, Snapchat still supports other sources of content through the Discover platform, including Comedy Central, National Geographic and Vice. In addition to Snap Channel, Snapchat has also parted with a few of the partners Discover launched with, including Yahoo and Warner Music. The videos were produced in-house, though the channel’s closure suggests its content failed to attract enough eyeballs, leading the LA-based company to view its investment in the offering as unsustainable. These companies are paying to be included in the Discover platform, though not much, but it seems that Snapchat has chose to leave the content creation to companies focused on it as opposed to creating its own. If the report is true, Snap Channel has been axed for good.