Part of the app’s Discover platform that launched at the start of this year, Snap Channel offered short-form original content programming to the app’s growing community of around 100 million active users. The videos were produced in-house, though the channel’s closure suggests its content failed to attract enough eyeballs, leading the LA-based company to view its investment in the offering as unsustainable.
Snapchat quietly took the channel offline at the end of September, promising it would return following a revamp. However, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Monday that the startup has done an about-face and decided to scrap the feature, with some of the 15-strong team running the channel likely to be shown the door.
Already gone is Marcus Wiley, who was brought in just five months ago to head up Snap Channel, taking charge of program planning and development. Before arriving at Snapchat, the former Fox executive had worked on shows such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, and The Mindy Project.
Commenting on Wiley’s departure, a Snapchat spokesperson said in a release, “Given that we are winding down the Snap Channel, it’s natural that Marcus would want to explore other options,” adding, “He is a tremendous talent and we wish him well.”
Now that Snapchat’s own original programming has disappeared from the social media service, users interested in such content will have to make do with offerings from the company’s Discover partners, among them ESPN, Vice, BuzzFeed and Comedy Central.
