Snapchat is expanding "Publisher Stories" on its Discover news feature to include channels from college and university newspapers.
Starting tomorrow, The Daily Californian (UC Berkeley), The Battalion (Texas A&M), The Daily Orange (Syracuse) and The Badger Herald (UW Madison) will begin publishing weekly Stories, similar to the way traditional media companies do on Snapchat Discover.
Snapchat says it's working with the editorial teams of dozens of more colleges and newspapers to launch Stories in the coming weeks.
Why it matters: This is the first time Snapchat is adding hyper-local stories to its news platform, which means that the company could have plans to expand into local news markets. It will also help drive engagement to Snapchat's core audience of millennials and Gen Z.
The stories will only be available to students who have their location enabled on Snapchat and are located on or near a particular college campus.
Like traditional media companies, college newspaper Stories will include "Snap Ads" between Stories to help schools monetize their content through a revenue sharing agreement. (Terms of the revenue sharing agreement have not been disclosed.)
Part of a bigger college push:
Campus Stories: Snapchat launched "Campus Stories" for its regular non-news platform in 2014, which allow anyone on a college campus (depending on their location-sharing preferences) to add their Snapchats to a culminating feed of Snaps on a particular college campus within a 24-hour window.
By the numbers: The LA-based company is hoping the new feature will allow students to access news from their favorite campus sources more quickly and efficiently. Data commissioned by Snap and ORC International found that nearly half of college students (47%) say that their college/university newspaper or official campus communication is the primary way they learn about events on campus, with social media platforms coming in second at 44%.
