New service pushes owner of Snapchat into fraught but potentially lucrative business of viral content
Snap Inc. is launching a video-sharing feature to rival TikTok, a move that will for the first time let its users produce content with hopes of it going viral.
The feature, called Spotlight, launches Monday within the company’s core app, Snapchat. The new service is a departure from a long-held focus on communication between friends and on professionally curated posts, pushing Snap into the fraught but potentially lucrative business of viral content.
Snap SNAP, +2.19% said it plans to pay out more than $1 million a day as a way to reward the people who post the best content. It is betting that Spotlight could drive up how long customers spend on the app, providing more opportunities for the company to serve ads to its users. Snap shares have more than doubled this year.
“Spotlight will be defined by our community—how they use it, what they create, and the stories they tell,” Snap said in a written statement. Like Snapchat, the Spotlight function is free to users.