Four months ago, CNN launched its The Update on Snapchat, and now we have news that the daily news show is being cancelled. According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, CNN realized “there wasn’t a clear enough path to make money” with the show on the platform.
This shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone because no one is really sure how shows can exactly fit on Snapchat. It’s an area of Snapchat that’s sort of uncharted territory and results for the effectiveness of shows on there are still up for debate.
CNN is one of the many traditional media outlets that launched shows on Snapchat. Other media outlets like Disney, ESPN, MGM Television, A+E, and NBC launched their on shows on the app as well. Despite the fact that many companies have shown interest in Snapchat and the potential that’s there in terms of shows, the company has struggled to grow at a satisfactory rate. This led to Snap Inc announcing a redesign of the app last month.
While CNN is ending its The Update show on Snapchat, the company isn’t entirely leaving Snapchat. In a joint statement to Engadget, both companies said that “Our relationship will very much be continuing.” Both companies plan to “keep working together and mutually decided to hit pause as [they] explore the best opportunities for doing that.”
