NBC News Digital is constantly looking for new ways to reach and engage new audiences. We launched StayTuned on Snapchat to do just that: to bring our world-class journalism and storytelling to a brand new audience. We wanted a beautiful, fast-paced, conversational show that would speak to a millennial audience—and do it twice a day, every week day, and update in real time with breaking news.
We went from idea to inception in three months--including coming up with the structure, writing style, a completely new graphics package and even composing all-new music to launch. All the while, we hired and trained a completely new staff of 30 producers, editors, graphic artists and PA's to churn out the daily production of the show. We literally built the plane as it was taking off.
The results have been astounding. Our first month alone we saw 30 million unique viewers. Since mid-July, we've amassed over 3 million subscribers. And we're reaching the audience we set out to reach—more than 60% of our audience is under the age of 25. And the majority of our audience watch the entire show without skipping through snaps.
