In the grand tradition of social media companies comparing their users to TV audiences, Snapchat Chief Business Officer Jeremi Gorman claimed on Wednesday that the app’s hit show “Endless Summer” is putting up “Game of Thrones”-type numbers.
Gorman took the stage at Advertising Week New York to introduce guest star Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show and used the opportunity to run through some of Snapchat’s audience numbers first. Gorman noted that “Endless Summer,” a Snapchat show created by Bunim Murray Productions, garnered more viewers than the finale of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
Gorman said that 28 million people (unique viewers) watched “Endless Summer” in its first season in 2018. “Compare that to people who watched the ‘Game of Thrones’ series finale, which was 25 million,” Gorman said.
She also took a swipe at the Emmy Awards show from Sunday, which had the smallest TV audience in its history at 6.9 million viewers. She said Snapchat has an audience of 203 million people every day, who consume 10 billion videos. “I’m not going to compare it to anything too specific other than to say this is more than the number of people who watched the Emmys on Sunday, I think,” Gorman said.
Snapchat is not the first platform to try to make the case that it reaches TV-level viewership. For years, one of the favorite refrains of Facebook execs was that the social network reaches a “Super Bowl-size audience” every day.
Advertisers are not necessarily sold on the hype from digital-first platforms, however, as TV continues to be the more prestigious medium for major campaigns. The TV Upfronts, when networks land advertisers for upcoming shows, generated $21.25 billion in spending this year, according to eMarketer. Meanwhile, the Newfronts, the digital equivalent to TV Upfronts, generated $4.4 billion.