Snapchat’s TikTok rival, Spotlight, already has greater than 100 million customers simply over two months after launching. The corporate revealed the statistic as a part of its fourth-quarter earnings report for 2020.
Highlight contains a stream of user-generated movies in a devoted part of its app. Snap has been capable of drum up curiosity within the function by spending tens of millions of {dollars} to pay the creators of the most well-liked movies. “We’re seeing over 175,000 video submissions per day, on common, partly as a result of our incentive program for creators, the place we distribute over $1 million per day to the highest performing movies,” CEO Evan Spiegel stated throughout a name with analysts.
It’s not clear if Snap plans to pay video creators indefinitely, although CFO Derek Andersen stated the corporate “will proceed to assist the launch of Highlight with our $1 million per day creator fund with the intention to construct on the momentum we’re seeing with this thrilling new platform.” The funds have generated important curiosity within the function amongst customers. Final month, The New York Occasions reported that among the most profitable Highlight creators — a few of whom are nonetheless teenagers — have made tens of millions of {dollars} from viral clips.
Snap’s success with Highlight comes amid growing competitors from different platforms. TikTok just lately introduced a $200 million fund to pay its high creators, whereas Instagram has experimented with new methods for influencers to generate profits from the app. (The corporate hasn’t shared metrics for its TikTok clone, reels.)
Snapchat can also be persevering with to develop outdoors of Highlight. The app added 15 million new customers final quarter, bringing its complete day by day energetic customers as much as 265 million. The corporate reported $911 million in income for the quarter, a 62 % improve from final yr. On the identical time, the corporate additionally cautioned that Apple’s upcoming iOS 14 update, which requires apps to ask for customers’ permission for advert monitoring options, may current a “threat” to the corporate.
