Snapchat has created a personalized show, Bitmoji TV, with hopes of drawing viewers in to watch themselves and their friends in scenarios from reality TV competitions to soap operas.
“We really believe that we have invented a new category of entertainment. It’s scripted but it’s personalized. You could take that in a million directions,” says Bitmoji co-founder and CEO Ba Blackstock who wrote and directed Bitmoji TV. “First and foremost, I hope that everyone who watches this has kind of a mind blowing experience that they’ve never had before.”
In 2016, Snapchat bought Bitstrips and began integrating the company’s Bitmojis into the social media platform. In 2018, Snapchat launched Bitmoji Stories, animated comics that incorporated users’ Bitmojis and their friends’ characters. Over 130 Snapchat users have watched Bitmoji Stories which are found on the platforms Discover page.
To watch Bitmoji TV, users will have to link their Snapchat account to a Bitmoji account. With a Bitmoji account, users can create their avatar and customize the character. When elements of the avatar are changed, the character on Bitmoji TV will also be changed in the next episode. The storyline of each episode will be the same across all users.
Episodes of Bitmoji TV will be about four minutes long. Snapchat users can subscribe to the show and will receive notifications when a new episode is available.
“People get really excited about this kind of personalized content,” said Blackstock. The debut of “Bitmoji TV” is a “highly experimental prototype – we’re going to see how people respond to it, and how crazy we can be.”
The first season of Bitmoji TV will not incorporate advertising, though the company is open to all possibilities moving forward.
Did you know we have a YouTube Channel? Every week we have a live Cord Cutting Q&A, and weekly Cord Cutting recap shows exclusively on our YouTube Channel!
Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news, tips, and reviews. Need cord cutting tech support? Join our Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.