Snapchat is making a big move in this European country
Snap is getting serious about growing as a global news network.
Snapchat launched its first localized Discover channel in Norway with VG, the most widely read online newspaper in the country, the companies announced Monday.
Snapchat and Discover aren't brand-new to Norway. What's changed is that Snapchat users in the country now have access to an exclusive, localized channel.
That comes along with new content guidelines for publishers and a mobile redesign Monday, all ahead of its expected initial public offering later this year.
Why Norway? It's an area of highly active users, according to Snap. The company declined to share exact numbers in the region. Snapchat has more than 50 million daily active Snapchat users in Europe overall.
“Norway has been a highly engaged community of Snapchatters from the early days and we’re thrilled to partner with VG -- a highly respected publisher -- to bring Norwegians daily news coverage that’s relevant to their lives," Nick Bell, Snap’s VP of content, said in an emailed statement to Mashable.
VG will publish a daily edition at 7 a.m. local time. For its first edition, it included video ads from DNB, Tine and Bama.
Snapchat has editions that are distributed globally to all 150 million daily active users.
The app also offers exclusive editions in the United States (Complex, Wall Street Journal, iHeartRadio), the United Kingdom (Sky News, Cosmo UK, Tastemade UK), and Australia (Fox Sports Au, ESPN Au, News Corp AU).
Snapchat cut local stories -- 24/7, city-based feeds -- from the app in September 2015. Snap hasn't given up on local news, but instead, the partnership hands off the curation and ad sales to a vetted publisher.
Topics Snapchat
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
