Snapchat and Viacom announce global partnership

In what is described as an unprecedented global partnership, the world's most popular ephemeral social messaging app and one of the biggest names in television are pooling their expertise to target millennial and post millennial audiences.

"Snapchat captures young audiences on an intimate and immersive mobile video platform while Viacom is the leader in premium long- and short-form storytelling for these same audiences," said Wade Davis, Chief Financial Officer, Viacom. The agreement, which covers content creation and promotion, will see two premium channels - Comedy Central International and MTV - come to the Snapchat Discover platform. Snapchat will also get exclusive access to premium Viacom content in order to tailor and curate Live Stories around programming such as awards shows or concerts.

In Return Viacom will be able to take control of advertising within its own Snapchat channels and to sell Snapchat's services as part of its offering to its own advertising clients. "Snapchat provides the best storytelling experience on mobile. Through this partnership with Viacom, we can now offer television advertisers a way to tell their stories across television and mobile in a frictionless way," said Imran Khan, Snapchat's Chief Strategy Officer.