Snapchat turns off a ‘channel’ on its app

Snapchat Inc. worked with Madonna, Steven Spielberg’s daughter, yoga instructors, comedians and countless other performers to draw people to its Snap Channel.

But that part of the Snapchat app, which hosted videos produced by the Venice company itself, was recently shut down less than nine months after it launched. Only a few workers at the 550-employee company were affected.

Snapchat is used by more than 100 million people a day for user-generated photos and videos. It gets 5 billion video views daily, Chief Executive Evan Spiegel said at an event in India on Monday.

In January, it introduced professional content from media giants such as ESPN and CNN in separate “channels” within a feature called Discover.

One channel was Snapchat’s own, with debut music videos from Madonna and Goldroom, a multiweek comedy show starring the daughters of film producers Spielberg and John Goldwyn, and lifestyle content such as yoga tips. Snapchat also employed veterans of Fox, VH1 and others for content production.

The company has raised more than $1 billion in venture capital. Even so, it was “a sensible move to close the segment down now rather than hemorrhage more money,” said Paolo Pescatore, director of multiplay and media at research firm CCS Insight. Snapchat won’t say whether or why the channel proved unpopular.

“[Making content] requires a huge investment, and it took the company in a different area from a content perspective as its users want access to live stories,” Pescatore said.

Snapchat still produces some original content through the Live Stories videos, with broadcasters such as former CNN political correspondent Peter Hamby adding context to news events.