Snapchat to get its own superhero series

Move is latest sign that the messaging service is attracting entertainment industry interest

While CNN and Yahoo will offer news, SnapperHero will be the first scripted series created specifically for the app, its producers say.
While CNN and Yahoo will offer news, SnapperHero will be the first scripted series created specifically for the app, its producers say.

Snapchat is getting its own superhero series, the latest sign that the ephemeral-messaging startup is becoming an attractive destination for entertainment companies. ATandT and two online studios, Astronauts Wanted and Fullscreen, are collaborating on SnapperHero, in which celebrities from YouTube and Vine play superheroes in short clips.

Snapchat isn’t making the series - like Google’s YouTube, it hosts the creations of its contributors, and the posts will show up in user feeds like everything else. “SnapperHero” is the latest example of the entertainment industry’s growing fascination with Snapchat, maker of the app, popular among teenagers, that lets users send photos that disappear within seconds after they’re viewed.

The Los Angeles- based company, valued at $10 billion in its latest fundraising, announced a new feature that will highlight videos from partners CNN and Yahoo News.

While CNN and Yahoo will offer news, SnapperHero will be the first scripted series created specifically for the app, its producers say.

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“This is a big push for us to try and use the platform in a way that it hasn’t been used before,” producer Billy Parks said. “It’s learning how to use Snapchat to tell a story.”

- Bloomberg