Snapchat’s publisher platform is becoming a little too crowded

Snapchat’s publisher platform is getting crowded. What started as a group of 11 publishers almost a year ago is now up to 17 and counting. That’s not a lot when compared to the broader Internet, but it’s definitely a lot to fit on one screen within Snapchat, where these publishers are competing for time with the app’s millennial-heavy audience. Make no mistake, publishers are getting competitive. One publisher we spoke with referred to it as “The Hunger Games.” This crowding and competition is one of the reasons that Snapchat opened up deep linking to its publishing partners last week. The move means that publishers can share a link in places outside of Snapchat, like Facebook, Twitter or the publisher’s homepage to drive traffic back to its publisher section, called Discover. As the section grows, it’s the kind of publisher-friendly move Snapchat will need to do more of to ensure its partners continue to devote resources to creating content that disappears after just 24 hours. It’s not the only move that Snapchat might explore. Sources say that, as a relatively new platform, Snapchat is still learning on the fly. That makes it hard to predict what’s coming next, but it’s also clear that few things are ever off the table. Here are a few other ideas the media company can use to keep publishers happy.