Over the past week, I've been spending a little time each day with Snapchat's recently launched "Discover" feature. In case you missed it, or are not a Snapchat user (as I wasn't), Discover is an area of in Snapchat's mobile app featuring icons from 11 different media companies. Behind each icon are innovative, slickly packaged sets of short videos and text stories, perfectly suited for attention-challenged mobile users (see short video below).

It's not immediately clear why a social network like Snapchat, known mostly for enabling ephemeral selfie photos and videos by its addicted young female audience (my 14 1/2 year-old daughter among them), believes it's strategic to partner with mostly mainstream media companies (note, not a single YouTuber) to offer this type of service. Perhaps advertising potential? Or driving deeper user engagement? Or broadening its mission? Or all of the above?

Regardless of whether Discover strategically fits for Snapchat and will ultimately pay-off, it is a great illustration of how media companies can innovate in the delivery of their content to an increasingly mobile world. In Discover's media channels, content streams immediately - there's no clicking on links and waiting for content to load. Simple swiping is all that's needed. Certain channels like CNN, ESPN, Yahoo News and Vice often immediately start playing short looping video clips to draw the user in.

As an example, today ESPN starts with the winning slam at yesterday's Slam-Dunk contest, then moving to Stephen Curry's amazing win in the 3-point contest. At Yahoo News, Katie Couric offers a quick intro (it's the only channel with a human greeting) and then cuts to several short highlight videos from Saturday Night Live, which had its 40th anniversary special last night.

Unlike the constantly updated web, Discover channels only update once per day. There's also no way to share stories or even link to them. In this sense Discover is like a curated island within Snapchat.  As a result, some might scoff that this model is out of synch with today's always-on mobile user. But in reality, I think Snapchat is targeting a less news-obsessed audience that wants to feel up-to-date without having to be up-to-the-minute. Discover isn't focused on the Twitter-addicted crowd, but rather an extension of yesteryear's nightly news viewer.

Discover is a different use case - it's packaged, curated, easy-to-access snackable content in a beautiful wrapper. It offers media brands the ability to get in front of Snapchat's 100 million+ registered users on a daily basis, building brand awareness and staying relevant. Importantly, Discover is elegant and highly-responsive - navigation is easy and intuitive, with videos loading immediately and playing back well.

In this sense, Discover also offers insights about where mobile video apps are heading. It's remarkable how quickly mobile has transformed from reading text articles on devices to fully immersive experiences. As smartphones' get bigger and crisper, these experiences are only getting more enjoyable. Discover is one of a number of apps that are moving the needle, no doubt with many more to come.