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It’s not an April Fool’s joke — America’s finest news source is coming to the world’s most popular ephemeral-messaging platform.
The exact launch date wasn’t specified, but in the coming weeks, The Onion will launch a channel on Snapchat Discover, a section within the messaging app that features daily content from publishers including BuzzFeed and The Wall Street Journal. The section is becoming increasingly crowded: at launch, The Onion will become one of 20 channels on the platform. No details on the type of content the Onion will produce or how it will staff the channel were available.
The Onion’s launch is part of a broader partnership between Snapchat and Univision, which acquired a 40 percent stake in The Onion in January to broaden its reach beyond the Spanish-speaking audience. Per the terms of the deal, Univision will work with Snapchat to create a series of special editions around tentpole events, live sports and the current presidential campaign.
“Univision will be taking the learnings and insights developed by Fusion’s Snapchat team and applying them to a wider range of properties including The Root, Univision News and Univision Deportes,” said Isaac Lee, chief news and digital officer for Univision and CEO of Fusion, in a staff memo sent this morning.
Fusion, a millennial-focused joint venture between Univision and Disney, was a launch partner for the international edition of Snapchat Discover. It later launched a U.S. version on Discover for a limited run, which will soon come to an end, according to the company.
Lee said the creative team behind Fusion’s Snapchat Discover channel “will continue producing content for My Story and will lend their expertise to Univision as we look to expand our offering on the platform.”
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