Sources: Snap is offering $40K to $50K per episode for original series that premiere on Snapchat, wants 10-12 episodes per series, each up to seven minutes long
Tim Peterson / Digiday : See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Snap's original-content strategy has been escalating from partnerships to outright commissioning. In 2017 it signed TV-like original show deals with NBCUniversal, Turner and others, and last October it launched Snap Originals — twelve daily scripted shows running four to five minutes an episode.
The reported rate card — $40K to $50K per episode, 10–12 episodes per series, capped at seven minutes — turns that strategy into a standing buy: Snap is no longer just hosting network-branded shows, it is paying producers directly to fill its Discover shelf, while quietly stretching the format it set only months earlier.
First-order effects
- Production studios gain a new direct buyer with a published per-episode price, letting them greenlight short-form projects against Snap money rather than waiting for network licensing deals.
- Snap shifts cost and creative control in-house: instead of NBCUniversal or Turner funding shows that premiere on Snapchat, Snap pays per episode and owns the commissioning decision.
Second-order effects
- Discover publishers who have commanded $50,000 to $100,000 per day in ad rates now compete for the same Discover real estate against Snap-funded scripted series, raising the bar for what earns placement.
- Rival short-form buyers face a priced benchmark: any studio negotiating with another mobile-video platform can point to Snap's $40K–$50K per-episode offer as a floor.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, mobile platforms consolidate into commissioners of feed-native formats — episode lengths set by the platform (four-to-five minutes stretching toward seven) rather than by TV convention — shifting leverage from networks that license content to platforms that order it.
The trend: Mobile platforms are moving from licensing TV-style content to directly commissioning short-form originals at per-episode rates, with the platform setting both the price and the format.