It seems every major social media platform will jump on the TikTok bandwagon. Snap has finally launched a paying platform for creators and has put money where its mouth is. The company is officially announcing a new section of Snapchat today called Spotlight that’ll showcase vertical video content from users that’s more meme-like and jokey instead of the day-in-the-life content that is common on the platform. Imagine, basically, TikTok baked into Snapchat.
Snap has set a side $1 million between the most popular creators on the app per day through the end of 2020. This means if someone has a particularly viral video, they might earn a large chunk of the $1 million pot. It doesn’t matter whether that person has a massive number of subscribers; the amount people receive is primarily based on unique views compared to other snaps that day. Users can continue to earn from their video if it’s popular for multiple days at a time.
Spotlight will have its own dedicated tab in the app, but the unfortunate bit is that it will only be launching in 11 countries, including the US, UK, France, Germany, and Australia. The videos you’ll see in the section can be up to 60 seconds long and, as of right now, cannot be watermarked. That means people can’t just download their (or others’) viral TikToks and upload them to Snapchat. Once you tap into Spotlight, you’ll see snaps programmed to what Snapchat’s algorithm thinks you might enjoy. It bases this decision mostly on what you’ve viewed in the past and how long you’ve watched. Anyone can submit a snap, they’ll just have to tap “Spotlight” when posting to ensure it populates the section.
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With Spotlight, Snap is clearly accepting that TikTok’s short-form viral videos are a huge success, similar to Instagram’s admission with its launch of Reels in August.
