Snapchat is launching a tool to let TV networks pipe snippets of live broadcasts directly into the app, starting this Saturday with NBC's Olympics coverage
Deal could forge closer ties between traditional TV networks and Snapchat's parent company Snap Inc. — Georgia Wells and Benjamin Mullin
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the third step in a slow Snap-NBC courtship. The relationship began as curated clips — a non-exclusive 2016 deal to show Olympics highlights via Live Stories and a BuzzFeed-curated Discover channel — then deepened into originals, when Snap signed TV-like show deals with NBCUniversal and Turner and NBCU committed brands like SNL and The Voice to the app.
What changes now is the plumbing: instead of hand-curated highlight packages, networks get a tool to pipe live broadcast snippets straight into Snapchat, debuting with NBC's Olympics coverage. It converts what was a bespoke content partnership into repeatable infrastructure any network can use.
First-order effects
- NBC's Olympics coverage becomes the launch showcase, giving the network a direct line to younger viewers who no longer watch traditional TV — the same audience NBC News targeted with its Stay Tuned news show on Snapchat.
- Other networks reportedly in talks with Snap, including CBS and Fox, gain a ready-made technical path into the app rather than negotiating one-off deals.
Second-order effects
- Rival platforms courting TV partners face pressure to offer equivalent live-piping tools, turning network distribution deals from bespoke negotiations into standardized platform features.
- For networks, live snippets on Snapchat become an incremental ad inventory source alongside the app's existing revenue splits, shifting some bargaining power toward whichever platform owns the pipe.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, live TV events stop being exclusive to broadcast channels and become multi-platform feeds by default, with social apps functioning as standard secondary transmission infrastructure for major sporting and news events.
The trend: Television networks are moving from licensing clips to social apps toward piping their live broadcasts directly into them, making platforms like Snapchat standard secondary distribution for marquee events.