Snapchat will begin giving out cash prizes next month to users who create top-performing content that meet the criteria of specific “challenges,” such as the use of a specific augmented reality lens or audio clip, parent company Snap said on Wednesday.
Called Spotlight Challenges, named after Snapchat’s user-generated platform that mimics TikTok’s for you page, U.S. users age 16 and older can receive awards from a pool of money ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 for top-performing videos that meet the challenge criteria. Though the pot of money will be split among the winners for each challenge, the minimum prize an individual will receive is $250, according to a Snap spokesperson.
An average of three to five Snapchat creators will be awarded per challenge, the spokesperson said, and the top 50 submissions for each challenge will be reviewed based on originality and creativity, use of the Snapchat tools, point of view and “entertainment value.”
The challenge prizes are available to creators in addition to compensation made available through the Spotlight fund, an incentive program that paid out $130 million to 5,400 creators as of May. When the fund first launched, Snap promised to pay creators $1 million a day for their Spotlight videos, but Snap later scaled back the compensation in June to an unspecified amount — a move that Snap CEO Evan Spiegel recently said was because the program was leading to “copycat content” from creators.
Representatives for Snap have said the new payouts amount to “millions per month,” but the company has not revealed an exact figure for daily payments.
But before the Spotlight Challenges roll out next month to U.S. users, Snapchat is launching a new creator hub on Wednesday that Snap said will help creators receive tips on how to succeed on Snapchat. Snap is also updating its creator marketplace to allow advertisers and businesses to connect with top Snap talent for marketing deals and sponsored content and opening up its gifting feature, which allows subscribers to tip their favorite creators for public content, to top creators around the globe.
Snapchat is just one of many social media giants amping up their incentives for creators to use — and stay on — their platforms. Facebook and Instagram said they plan to pay a total of $1 billion to creators through 2022 for creating content on their respective platforms, while TikTok has a $1 billion creator fund in the U.S. that will be paid out over three years. YouTube also has a $100 million fund for its shortform video offering, Shorts, and LinkedIn last month launched a $25 million program for 100 U.S. creators.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
