Turner Sports and Snapchat to Bring Fans and Brand Partners Closer to the Action of Major Sporting Events

Multi-Year Live Story Partnership Tips Off with NCAA March Madness

Turner Sports and Snapchat are joining forces for a multi-year content deal that leverages Snapchat's Live Story product with the goal of enhancing fans' storytelling and viewing experiences through Snapchat's coverage of major sporting events, including year-round NCAA Championships. The partnership will debut during NCAA March Madness.

Snapchat Live Stories allow Snapchatters the opportunity to contribute their unique perspectives through video and photo Snaps to one collective Story, capturing the real story, straight from the fans and people at the event. As part of the deal, Snapchatters will have access to a variety of official brand marks, imagery and behind-the-scenes Snaps to better the storytelling of that premiere event. To compile the Live Story, Snapchat curates the thousands of submitted Snaps into a brief video that can be broadcast globally to millions of fans right on their mobile device. Each day, 10 to 20 million Snapchatters tune into a Live Story daily.

Brands will have the opportunity to align with this immersive viewing environment through various advertising products, such as Snapchat's 3V ad product. 3V ads are full-screen, vertical video ads that are interspersed throughout the user-submitted content in a Live Story.

"There is nothing more powerful on social than a passionate sports fan expressing their emotions during that pivotal moment of a game," said Seth Ladetsky, senior vice president, Turner Sports Ad Sales. "While providing fans the tools to enhance their shared experiences, we are also creating an opportunity for advertisers to showcase their brand in an organic environment rich with engagement and interaction."

"By partnering with Turner Sports, we're able to bring Snapchatters closer to the action and behind-the-scenes of the biggest plays, sideline moments, teams, and more starting with March Madness," said Ben Schwerin, Director of Partnerships at Snapchat.

For the sixth consecutive year, Turner Sports and CBS Sports provide live coverage of all 67 games from the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship across four national television networks - TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV - and via NCAA March Madness Live. This year's NCAA Final Four National Semifinals on Saturday, April 2, will be televised on TBS, along with the National Championship on Monday, April 4, marking the first time the title game will air on cable television in the 78-year history of the NCAA Tournament.

The deal between Turner Sports and Snapchat expands upon existing league partnerships with Snapchat.

Turner Sports, a division of Turner, is an industry leader in the delivery of premium sports content across all multimedia screens. Turner Sports' television coverage includes the NBA, Major League Baseball, NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, ELEAGUE, boxing and professional golf. The company also manages some of the most popular sports destinations across broadband and mobile platforms including Bleacher Report and its top-rated Team Stream app, NCAA.com and the critically-acclaimed NCAA March Madness Live suite of products, PGA.com and the Sports Emmy Award-winning PGA Championship LIVE, as well as an accompanying collection of mobile sites and connected device apps. Turner Sports and the NBA also jointly manage NBA Digital, a robust collection of offerings including NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA Mobile, the NBA App, NBADLEAGUE.com and WNBA.com.