Step aside, Snapchat: Musical.ly just launched original shows
First it was YouTube Red, then Twitter and Snapchat followed along. Now Musical.ly, the popular lip-synching video app, is the latest to add original "shows" to its platform.
"Musers" can expect programming from the likes of NBCUniversal, Viacom, and Hearst. They're bringing five short shows to the table, starting immediately. Each show will be two to four minutes long and will appear in a featured section of the app for 24 hours.
Seventeen's Fashion to DIY For and MTV's Wild 'N Out hosted by Nick Cannon will be the first to go live. The second round of shows is set to hit the air on Saturday, June 17, featuring MTV's Greatest Party Story Ever and Hearst's Seventeen in the City.
The whole point, of course, is to give Musical.ly users more things to do in the app, so they’ll spend more time there. It also gives the service a greater connection to what's going on in the broader entertainment world, rather than just being an app that aggregates user-generated videos -- similar to the equation Snapchat confronted when it introduced its Discover section with channels from established media outlets (including Mashable).
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Musical.ly is hugely popular among its Gen X users and has shot its most popular creators, like Ariel Martin (known as Baby Ariel) and Mark Thomas (known as Duhitzmark), to fame.
But, with the addition of studio-made shows, Musical.ly isn't trying to take musers out of the limelight.
Viewers don't just have to sit back and watch the action. They can interact with the shows by creating their own videos after watching. When musers put the show's hashtag in their comment, their videos will be compiled into a page that's featured at the end of the show.
The new shows will start rolling out immediately. And look forward to other shows, like Crush -- a new E! show featuring Musical.ly's most popular users divulging their celebrity crushes -- and a Telemundo series to roll out in the future.
Topics Social Media
Molly is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While there, she studied life sciences communication and conservation biology. Molly has worked in multiple communications positions at UW and recently acted as a science intern at Business Insider in NYC. She is a lover of all things science and tech related, and is always ready to take on a new challenge. When Molly isn't writing, she fills her time training for IRONMAN events, acting as the unofficial #1 Wisconsin athletics fan, and trying as many new foods as her budget will allow.
