NBC News is marking the 500th episode of its twice-daily news show on Snapchat, "Stay Tuned," by revealing some new viewership numbers around the series.
The broadcaster said that “Stay Tuned” now reaches more than 30 million unique viewers each month and that 75% of those viewers are under age 25. The company said that nearly half of its viewers watch “Stay Tuned” at least three times per week.
“Our goal was to invent a show for a generation of news watchers NBC News generally does not reach on more traditional platforms,” said Nick Ascheim, senior vice president of digital for NBC News, in a statement. “Using our considerable resources and expertise, and drawing on deep insights from the Snap content team, we’ve hit the mark. While we admittedly did not expect to amass such a vast audience so quickly, we could not be more thrilled that we are reaching so many young news consumers, and helping them stay on top of a complicated world, and—in many cases—introducing them to NBC News.”
“From the beginning, we have been incredibly impressed by NBC News’ ingenuity and efforts to create a truly thoughtful, mobile-first Show that resonates with Snapchatters,” said Sean Mills, Snap’s head of original content, in a statement. “’Stay Tuned’ has been a resounding success and we’re elated to celebrate this tremendous milestone together.”
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The success of “Stay Tuned” serves as a validation of NBC’s heavy investment in digital strategies aimed at reaching younger audiences who may not be tuning into traditional television. Last year, NBCUniversal put a $500 million strategic investment into Snap’s IPO. NBCU CEO Steve Burke called the Snap investment part of the company’s strategy to invest in digital growth, which includes NBCU’s recent $400 million investment in BuzzFeed and $200 million investment in Vox.
“I am proud of the strides we have made in the digital space recently. With the Snap investment, we have invested over $1.5 billion in promising digital businesses in the last 18 months. Importantly, we have become a better, more digitally-focused company as a result,” wrote Burke in the memo obtained by Variety.
“Stay Tuned” is co-hosted by NBC News and MSNBC correspondents Gadi Schwartz, Savannah Sellers and Lawrence Jackson. New episodes air twice a day during the week at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET, and once a day during the weekend at 2 p.m. ET on Snapchat’s Discover page.