Snapchat is investing heavily in promoting its new Spotlight feature, to the tune of $1 million per day for users who submit the best content.
Spotlight is being described as Snapchat’s answer to TikTok as it allows users to create similar types of content.
With Spotlight users can create short videos up to 60 seconds in length and edit them with creative tools such as:
- Captions
- Licensed music
- Original sound recordings
- Augmented Reality filters (referred to as Lenses)
- GIFs
- Hashtags
Snapchat is naming the feature “Spotlight” because it is designed to highlight entertaining videos from all users, regardless of the amount of followers or influence they have.
Spotlight will also highlight content from users whether or not they have a public profile. Snapchat says in an announcement:
“It’s a fair and fun place for Snapchatters to share their best Snaps and see perspectives from across the Snapchat community.”
To encourage the use of its new feature, Snapchat is paying users a share of $1 million every day for the best content.
Here’s more about Spotlight, how to use it, and how to potentially earn a cut of the prize money.
How Can Users Submit Content to Spotlight?
Users can submit content to Spotlight by creating a Snap in the usual fashion.
Next, at the top of the ‘Send To’ screen, there’s a new option to select Spotlight.
From there, hit the Send button in the bottom right-hand corner and the content will be submitted.
Users have the option to add topics to their Snap before submitting it to Spotlight, which is recommended so it can be surfaced to people interested in that topic.
How Does Snapchat Curate Spotlight Content?
Snapchat is surfacing submitted content in a new section dedicated to Spotlight videos. Content is surfaced based on users’ individual preferences.
“We focus on serving the right Snaps to the right person at the right time. We do this by trying to understand your personal preferences.”
Snapchat’s algorithm also considers the following factors when curating content:
- Watch time
- Likes
- Shares
- Bounce rate
Before content is surfaced in Spotlight it gets reviewed by moderators to ensure it’s both appropriate and entertaining.
Snapchat emphasizes that Spotlight is an entertainment platform and not a place for news or overly political content.
How Can Snapchat Users Earn Money From Spotlight Submissions?
Whether money is earned from a Spotlight submission is determined using a proprietary formula based on how many unique views it receives compared to other content submitted that day.
Snapchat notes it’s actively monitoring for fraud to ensure view counts are not artificially inflated.
Earnings will be paid out to users every day and Snapchat will send a direct message to notify people people who are awarded a share of the money.
As far as I can tell there’s no limit to how many times the same person can earn money from Spotlight submissions. So users who win can continue submitting content to potentially earn more prize money.
Snapchat is paying out $1 million per day from now until the end of 2020. And maybe even longer, the company says.
Spotlight is rolling out slowly and is available first in the following countries:
- Australia
- Canada
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
- United States
For more information see the official Spotlight guidelines here.
