CNN is shutting down its Snapchat news show just four months after it debuted. Called The Update, the program packaged daily news into a 3-minute video of prerecorded clips gathered by its network of worldwide reporters and correspondents.
The show is being put to rest because CNN couldn’t find “a clear enough path to make money,” according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. It reportedly was going to lose paid licensing fees and would have solely relied on ad sales. CNN was an original partner for Snapchat Discovery, a section of the ephemeral messaging app that features broadcasts from media outlets and creators. The ad revenue shared with those partners is reportedly hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Despite this, it appears CNN doesn’t feel the platform is worth its time.
While it’s unclear how successful the majority of Snapchat Discovery channels are, NBC News appears to have made some inroads. Its new show Stay Tuned reportedly garners “tens of millions” of unique viewers per month. However, unlike that hit, CNN’s attempt didn’t include content made exclusively for the platform or clips curated for Snapchat’s young audience.
Perhaps its future efforts will learn from these mistakes. Snap and CNN issued a joint statement suggesting the death of The Update is simply a road bump, not the end of their partnership.
“Snap and CNN have built a great partnership over the years and our teams have enormous admiration for each other.” the statement said. “We plan to keep working together and mutually decided to hit pause as we explore the best opportunities for doing that.”