Earlier this month, Peter Hamby joined Puck’s Matthew Belloni for a special edition of “The Town,” his influential Hollywood insider podcast. Introducing Hamby, Belloni rattled off his many roles—from host of Puck’s “The Powers That Be” to what he described as the “very popular” Snapchat show “Good Luck America”—and dubbed him a “video star.”
But Belloni’s reference to “Good Luck America” might have been a bit outdated. No new episodes have been posted on the ephemeral social platform since March, and Status has learned the show is on indefinite hiatus, with no production schedule in place, as Hamby explores what comes next for the brand.
The development effectively brings to an end one of Snapchat’s most prominent news franchises. Launched in 2016 after Hamby joined Snap as head of news, Good Luck America” was the platform’s first in-house news show and helped pioneer short-form political coverage on Snapchat, featuring interviews with high-profile political figures including Gavin Newsom, Barack Obama, Steve Bannon, Lindsey Graham and Kamala Harris, and ultimately amassing 2.2 million subscribers.
Hamby, who also contributes political reporting to Puck, continues to post news and political content on his Snap Star profile. But the arrangement now more closely resembles that of a creator publishing on the platform than a host fronting a Snap- funded original series exclusively on the platform. Hamby, who also relinquished his role as head of news in 2018, declined to comment for this story.
The timing is notable, coming during an election cycle in which the midterms loom large and political news consumption is increasingly shaped by algorithmic feeds and A.I.-generated videos that can be difficult to distinguish from reality. But the development reflects Snap’s retreat from the category and highlights a shift in priorities for the Evan Spiegel-led company away from the original short-form shows that once defined it. Instead, most news organizations now use their accounts to post updates featuring their reporting, similar to how outlets use Instagram—distributing stories and clips rather than producing platform-specific shows.
“Good Luck America” isn’t the only marquee news show to go dark on Snapchat. NBC News’ “Stay Tuned,” which at its peak operated as a twice-daily series built specifically for the platform and averaged between 25 and 35 million viewers per month, quietly stopped posting original episodes last fall. The network, which once employed a team of roughly 30 people to produce the franchise, now primarily uses its Snapchat presence to distribute clips and videos from elsewhere in its operation. While NBC hasn’t completely abandoned the “Stay Tuned” brand, the network is focused on driving subscriptions to its own platforms.
During Snap's peak push into news, publishers built dedicated teams and ambitious franchises specifically for the app, betting that the platform would become a major destination for younger audiences seeking news. That dream has since largely faded. Today, many media companies are concentrating resources on creating direct relationships and subscription-based businesses they control, while Snapchat's news ecosystem has increasingly shifted toward individual creators rather than costly, stand-alone productions.
The wind down of “Good Luck America” comes as Snap has been facing its own financial pressures. The Santa Monica-based company slashed roughly 1,000 jobs, or 16 percent of its full-time staff, in April and said it plans to cut more than $500 million in costs by the second half of 2026. A company spokesperson declined to say whether those layoffs impacted staff involved with its original news programming, but it is clear that the era in which Snap financed journalist-led programs is drawing to a close. Indeed, Snap shuttered its Originals department while making a round of layoffs in 2022, part of a push to prioritize content from creators and partnerships. But “Good Luck America” and “Stay Tuned” were spared, able to continue their run on the platform.
Snap, for its part, says it remains committed to news. The company told Status it currently partners with nearly two dozen news organizations globally, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Axel Springer, to provide news content on the platform. But for the most part, those organizations now use Snapchat to distribute reporting that originated elsewhere, rather than creating programming specifically designed for the platform.
Meanwhile, Hamby is weighing what comes next and whether he can take the “Good Luck America” IP elsewhere. Multiple people familiar with the matter told Status that Hamby is in active conversations about expanding his role at Puck, where he has contributed as a reporter and host since 2021, potentially joining the Jon Kelly-led outlet full-time.
What that means for “Good Luck America” remains to be seen. But after nearly a decade on Snapchat, one of its defining news products will appear to need some luck of its own in order to continue.
Donald Trump. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Clearly embarrassed by the rash of withdrawals from the Freedom 250 concerts, Donald Trump is now calling to cancel them after the “overpriced singers” backed out and hold one of his rallies instead. [The Hill]
WIRED retracted an excerpt from Steve Rosenbaum's "The Future of Truth" after running it through multiple A.I.-detection services that flagged it as likely generated text, following controversy that the book contained fabricated or misattributed quotes. [WIRED]
MS NOW’s Ali Velshi was escorted away by police from a tense protest outside an ICE facility in New Jersey while on-air. [YouTube]
NewsNation’s pro-Trump host Batya Ungar-Sargon pleaded with Trump to do something about rising inflation and affordability: “Mr. President, your supporters are hurting.” [Mediaite]
Rupert Murdoch’s The WSJ Editorial Board pushed back on the Trump administration’s potential civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, warning the deal would leave the world “much more dangerous.” [WSJ]
Trump, meanwhile, boasted about his Iran War effort in a Fox News chat with his daughter-in-law Lara Trump. [HuffPost]
MAGA Media star Nick Shirley blamed “left-wing media” for putting a “target” on his back after his Minnesota fraud brouhaha, telling Tomi Lahren he believes it’s now too risky for him to be in certain public areas. [Mediaite]
MAGA-backed Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt expressed remorse for his embrace of A.I.-generated ads. “I’ve actually made a mistake by retweeting them,” he said. “If I could go back in time, I would never have reposted an A.I. ad.” [WSJ]
Emily Glazer published a deeply reported piece examining the astonishing lengths Bill Gates’ public relations team went to in order to curate his image as “someone calm and approachable, like Mister Rogers.” [WSJ]
54 local Scripps stations went dark on Sunday evening as the company faced off in a retransmission battle with DirecTV. [Variety]
Kristen Welker and “Meet the Press” are launching a “Meet the Moment” live-event franchise, beginning June 29 with Taraji P. Henson. [NBC News]
Status Scoop | POLITICO hired Will Steakin as a political correspondent.
Status Scoop | The Columbia Journalism Review is publishing a special edition on Monday, dubbed “The Access Issue,” examining the fracturing media environment, featuring an interview with TMZ’s Harvey Levin.
Italian authorities banned Kanye West and Travis Scott concerts, citing security concerns. [BBC]
“Love Island USA” has kicked off another cast member, Vasana Montgomery, for using a racial slur, after booting two for similar reasons last season. [Variety]
Everything OK? Morgan Wallen melted down onstage after a technical error and flipped the piano over. [Deadline]
Horror maven Jason Blum compared the success of “Backrooms” and “Obsession” (see below) to the 1970s, when a “new generation” of filmmakers took over. [The Wrap]
On another Produced By panel, Warner Bros. co-chair Michael De Luca said the filmmakers have the advantage of being “in a dialogue with their audience,” giving subscribers “direct input.” [Deadline]
Meanwhile, expect plenty of profiles on 20-year-old Kane Parsons, the youngest director ever of a No. 1.-ranked movie. [THR]
Dua Lipa and Callum Turner got married Sunday in London. [People]
A scene from "Backrooms." (Photo courtesy A24)
Two low-budget horror films from YouTubers, “Backrooms” and “Obsession,” dominated the box office, while creating an awkward comparison for weekend two of “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”
“Backrooms” broke multiple records for distributor A24 with its $81 million domestic opening, and $118 million worldwide.
“Obsession” finished second with $26 million to pass $100 million, a record for Universal specialty label Focus Features, while its weekend take grew on consecutive weekends—virtually unheard of in today’s age.
Disney’s “Mandalorian,” meanwhile, fell almost 70% from its debut, indicating the audience that didn’t come out the first weekend might be content to wait to see the streaming-derived movie on, well, Disney+.
Nate Bargatze’s first feature “The Breadwinner” didn’t live up to its name for Sony, with an estimated $7.5 million.
The latest episode of the official Status podcast Power Lines is out.
In this week’s episode: We go inside Bari Weiss’ bloodletting at “60 Minutes,” and reveal what staffers at the storied newsmagazine are privately saying about the future of the show. Plus, we catch CBS News using a sneaky trick to inflate Tony Dokoupil’s “Evening News” ratings in order to claim that he snapped his streak averaging under 4 million viewers. Finally, we answer your questions on our Open Lines segment.
You can watch on YouTube—or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy the program, subscribe so you never miss an episode!
