If you’ve ever thought Game of Thrones‘ “Battle of Blackwater” would be more enjoyable to watch on your phone with 63 of your closest friends and Bitmojis galore, you might soon be able to do just that. As of Tuesday, July 20, HBO Max has become the first major streaming service to bring full-length episodes of some of their most popular series to Snap Minis, a brand new feature on Snapchat that hosts third-party apps.
Through Snap Mini, Snapchat users can watch various pilot episodes of original HBO programing with 63 other users and share Bitmoji reactions with one another while the drama unfolds. Among the pilots available to watch on Snap Mini are Gossip Girl, Euphoria, Game of Thrones, The Flight Attendant, Genera+ion, Looney Tunes, Lovecraft Country, Selena + Chef, Titans, Craftopia, Love Life, and Warrior and World of Calm. In addition, the season 2 premiere of Betty will also be available. Oh, and if the maturity level of those shows has you a bit worried for Snapchat’s younger crowd, rest assured that HBO will be asking users to verify their age in order to keep them out of age-restricted content.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, executive vice president of direct-to-consumer global product management at HBO Max Sarah Lyons released a statement claiming the move “paves the way for more meaningful discovery” of HBO shows by consumers. Lyons further explained:
“People love to come together to watch their favorite HBO Max shows and talk about what’s unfolding. Our partnership with Snapchat is another step towards fulfilling that desire for human connection and providing our fans with co-viewing opportunities, while deepening their emotional relationship with the brand.”
Based Snapchat’s younger demographic — which reportedly reaches about 90% of those between the ages of 13-24 in the US — it seems likely that HBO Max is trying to appeal to a younger demographic in order to up their already impressive 44.2 million subscribers. Only time will tell how this works out for the streaming service and Snap Mini.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)