Comedy Central said Wednesday it will be expanding its video programming lineup on Snapchat Discover. The network's move comes as TV gears up for the annual upfront-NewsFront process, when they will pitch ad buyers on their traditional and digital video inventory.
The network said it has renewed four existing shows: "Swag-A-Saurus with James Davis," "Like it With Liza," "Hot Takes with Brandon Wardell" and "Quickie with Nikki," which it called its most popular Snapchat series.
Comedy Central will also add nine new video series, it said. They include "7 Mins in Purgatory," about comedians performing acts without being able to see their audiences' reactions; "Animal-Lolz," an animal-facts series hosted by comedian Joe Zimmerman; and "Guber Pool," a sketch series from the group Dollar Pizza.
Dave Bernath, executive VP of programming and multiplatform strategy at Comedy Central, declined to name marketers that have paid to sponsor its Snapchat content, but said the interest had been significant.
"The movie studios have been very active, QSRs, beverages, telecommunications," Mr. Bernath said.
Snapchat says it attracts 70 million Discover views each month, with top channels averaging 6 to 7 minutes of a user's time each day.
A Snapchat spokesman and Mr. Bernath each declined to say how many views Comedy Central's videos have been attracting.
Comedy Central claims its Discover content is doing extremely well in attracting younger millennials, however, pointing to a March survey conducted by Variety which lists it as the second most popular Discover channel, only behind BuzzFeed.
"It's been great fun experimenting with established and emerging talent on our Snapchat Discover channel," Kent Alterman, president, original programming at Comedy Central, said in a statement. "It allows us to play with form and format, and the reception from our fans and the creative community has been tremendously gratifying."
TV networks struggling with ratings softness in traditional viewing have recently been keen on showing advertisers that they have valuable audiences on other platforms as well.
Comedy Central parent Viacom also recently began selling ads on behalf of Snapchat.
