23 START-UP ALLEY Snappers
WE WANT TO BECOME THE UBER OF VIDEO REPORTING
ON THE SPOT Snappers aims to open up the way news organisations procure video of unfolding events, utilising ‘citizen reporters’ and their smart devices to record and supply any particular footage
After recruiting Israeli-born software engineer Eitan Goldfrad as a third co- founder and CTO (via a Facebook ad) the company officially launched in 2016. The technology comes in the form of an SDK, which can be integrated into a news outlet’s consumer app so that when a news event breaks, the network can see a user’s location and push out requests for live footage. These citizen journalists can then use the Snappers’ app and start streaming while the news network can either use the live version or a pre-recorded version uploaded afterwards. The news network client receives an editing suite, which allows them to manage a live broadcast with several camera feeds they can switch between, like a live broadcast. Other features include a live chat function, a time delay function and, like Uber, a ratings system that’s used to grade the reporters. “The more you use the system the better it becomes at identifying reporters that work for you,“ adds Zales. For live media streaming, Snappers currently uses Wowzer but, according to
Zales, Snappers is developing a new video calling system for live streaming that’s more bespoke to the concept. He says that in low bandwidth areas it’s also possible to stream a low bandwidth version, while recording a higher quality version on the mobile. Laing adds that what makes this particular start-up different from other UGC apps such as Newsflare or CrowdSpark is that Snappers works on a ‘top down’ model, where the clients decide what footage they want rather than receiving overwhelming amounts of UGC, not all of which is relevant. The start-up’s proposition was strong enough to be accepted into The Bridge, a Tel Aviv accelerator co-sponsored by Turner Broadcasting, which accepts just ten companies per year. It was here that CNN became a key advocate for the product. CNN’s VP of innovation, Peter Scott, declared it a “really powerful” news tool at this year’s NAB, where Snappers had a stand at the convention’s Start-Up Loft. Cost savings can’t be overlooked, either, when around half of a news organsation’s outgoings involve newsgathering.
As Laing says, “Organsations likes CNN spend upwards of $1bn dollars worldwide on newsgathering – we’re not looking to replace it but we can help them get it down and cover a wider geographic area.” The company is adopting an SaaS model and will offer a flat rate, “depending on bandwidth use and the number of editors using the platform.” Another revenue model involves taking an as-yet- undecided percentage of the fee paid to the reporter. In the long term, the founders anticipate that their main revenue stream will come from these payments rather than the news outlets. There are also plans afoot to create a content marketplace, brokering sales of video content between reporters and companies. Thus far, the company has been running using money from a grant, but the team are currently focusing on their next funding round, during which they are aiming to raise $3m to further expand into US and UK markets. It’s here, Laing explains, potential customers are defined as, “any company interested in the general possibilities of democratising news coverage.”
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