Snapchat is directly paying creators millions of dollars for their posts on Spotlight, its new short-form video feature and TikTok lookalike.
But many creators don't think the gold rush will last — at least not in its current form. They anticipate the company will get tired of shelling out millions to keep users engaged.
Some industry insiders think the key to longevity for Spotlight — as it has been with social media in general — will be figuring out an efficient way to integrate brands into the platform. They point to models like YouTube's revenue share program called AdSense, which pays creators a commission from Google-placed ads, and to Instagram and TikTok allowing sponsored posts that influencers sell themselves.
Right now, sponsored posts are "not supported" by Spotlight, according to the app's guidelines.
"We're currently focused on highlighting Snapchatters' creativity in Spotlight, so we remove Snaps that attempts to sell products or services in Spotlight," a Snapchat spokesperson told Insider. Spotlight videos are currently reviewed by human moderators.
These guidelines also prohibit the use of Snapchat's linking features and theoretically could be used by creators to share affiliate links (which allow creators to earn a commission).
The one opportunity for paid content, as of now, is through augmented reality lenses.
Brands are able to launch their own business profiles and create these paid-for AR effects through Snapchat's "Brand Profile" beta program. So, in theory, a brand could arrange a deal with a creator to use an AR lens in a Spotlight video, instead of the more common product placement or hashtag challenge style sponsorship video.
If a creator submits a Spotlight video with a paid-for AR effect, though, that Snap won't be eligible for Spotlight direct payments from the company.
Otherwise, brand sponsorships are not yet part of the everyday Spotlight experience — except for the occasional re-purposed TikTok video that was an #ad on TikTok, but submitted as a Snap anyway.
That means Snapchat is relying on its own payments to lure creators.
So far, that has worked, with Snapchat's flashy $1-million-per-day payout drawing in creators who hope to score big paychecks. Snapchat reported that the feature had more than 100 million users as of January.
But with more users, there's more competition and inevitably lower payouts, creator Joey Rogoff told Insider in January. Rogoff has earned over $1 million from Spotlight.
Initially, Snapchat's payment program was only guaranteed to last through the end of 2020. But two months into 2021, no clear end date has been announced.
Still, creators don't think it can continue indefinitely.
"This won't last forever," said Cam Casey, a creator who has earned over $3 million as of January.
And if payments peter out, will Snapchat be able to keep creators using Spotlight?
"They're obviously making an attempt to kind of bring Snapchat to the forefront of all of our minds," said Cheyenne Brink, a talent manager at Gleam Futures, a talent management and influencer-marketing agency. "But will it work? Will people get back on it? I don't know."
According to industry insiders like Brink, keeping creators on an app requires a mix of things: an attractive creative product, evidence of rewarding engagement and growth, and the ability to make money.
Finding its place in the creator economy
Spotlight is still new, and for the moment, not on the radar of many brands.
The conversation among creators and industry players like managers, agents, and marketers is more focused on the potential Spotlight has as a short-form video platform. Brands and sponsorships are an afterthought right now.
For that to change, Spotlight will need to prove itself as a powerful platform and marketplace. Even for TikTok and Instagram's Reels, it took time for advertisers to feel comfortable.
But industry insiders have already been discussing the potential of Snapchat more broadly. And with Spotlight's flashy arrival, Snapchat as a platform could see a resurgence in attention from creators, and ultimately, brands.
"I think now the platform is starting to get a little bit more critical attraction amongst the creator community," said Max Levine, cofounder and COO of the talent management agency Amp Studios. "So maybe that's something that brands are going to invest a bit more in, but historically speaking, it hasn't really been something that a lot of companies come to us frequently about."
Most of the brand deals that have been inked on Snapchat though have primarily been Snapchat Story posts.
Tyler Bott, a college student and TikTok creator with 2.6 million followers, has worked on a couple of sponsorships that incorporated Stories, but not Spotlight.
Still, many creators (including Bott) are seeing new growth on Snapchat using Spotlight, especially after becoming verified. Verified accounts receive a star next to their account and can also have their Stories displayed on the Discover page.
While Snapchat doesn't show exactly where new subscribers are coming from, being both verified and posting to Spotlight has been useful for getting discovered and getting more subscribers, Bott said.
"I feel like Snapchat's a very overlooked platform," Bott said.
Paige Mackenzie, an 18-year-old TikTok creator with 7.5 million followers and about 125,000 Snap subscribers, told Insider she was also verified in the last two months around the same time she started posting to Spotlight. She's gained over 100,000 subscribers since.
"Even after they stop doing the whole paying thing, I'll definitely still post on it," Mackenzie said of Spotlight.
With Spotlight now an option and more creators becoming verified, Snapchat is clearly making moves in its attempt to outgrow its messaging-only reputation and compete with other apps like TikTok that are favored among creators.
"In the beginning, no one thought anyone could even come close to competing with TikTok," said Regan Yorke, a 20-year-old TikTok creator with 2.8 million followers and about 24,000 Snap subscribers. "And now I find myself opening Snapchat more than I do TikTok."
Snapchat has tried to push content forms as options in the past, such as Originals (Snapchat produced series) or its syndication feature (which uploads YouTube content to Snapchat Discover), but these were only available to a limited subset of creators. And they didn't make Snapchat a creator favorite.
As Snapchat competes to woo creators as a platform to grow and reach new audiences, industry insiders say the key to success lies in creating a long-term ecosystem that allows those creators to earn money.
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