Snapchat has unveiled a new monetization scheme that would allow content makers to earn royalties from commercials placed on videos longer than one minute. This action adds to the recent trend of the company rewarding creators of original and high-quality content as well as promoting content quality on Snapchat’s platform. The idea is to launch the program on February 1, 2025, which will create a powerful incentive for creators to make longer videos.
Snapchat Rolls Out Ad Revenue Sharing for Creators
For content creators to be accepted into the program, then they have to meet certain aspects. It means they should have 50K+ followers, 25+ posts on Spotlight or Public Stories, or post at least 10 of the last 28 days. Additionally, creators need to achieve one of the following benchmarks: 10 million cumulative views on Snapchat, or one million views on Spotlight, or 12,000 watch hours in the last 28 days.
Snapchat revenue changes are in line with its further development plan to take on other platforms similar to TikTok and YouTube. Thus, through showing willingness to share its revenues with its talent, the platform confines itself to both attracting new professional-level performers and maintaining the workers already on the roster. It remains in keeping with the company’s broader efforts to expand its roster of creators while also providing monetary bonuses that are tied to engagement metrics.
Though this approach appears to have some potential, it is still quite restricted to only the creators from certain countries, which are, for instance, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and some countries in the Middle East. To extend the positive outcome, it could be useful to launch the program in more countries. But Snapchat may be cautious with the frequency of expanding payouts across the world because of financial concerns.
This program comes at a time when Snapchat generates a high increased rate of both content generation and consumption. Specifically, while public content sharing has tripled in the last year, Spotlight views have grown by 25%. These numbers point to interest in Snapchat’s changing content environment and its ability to support a viable advertising ecosystem for content left creators.
Snapchat's New Monetization Program for Creators
Beginning on February 1, 2025, creators on the Snapchat platform will be able to earn from videos of 1 minute and above on the Spotlight. This is in line with the firm’s bid to encourage the creators on its platform to create longer content, which it monetizes through selling ads on the videos.
Before getting this new way of making money, the creator must provide certain essential features. To be eligible, candidates must have 50,000 followers, share content 25 times monthly in saved Stories or Spotlight, and have posts within Spotlight or Public Stories at least 10 days in the last 28 days.
Additionally, creators must achieve one of the following goals within the last 28 days to be eligible for the program: They are also able to select a goal of 10 million total views on Snapchat, 1 million views on Spotlight, or 12,000 hours of watch time. These benchmarks are aiming in such a way that only active and engaged creators will be compensated.
This also means that the creators have to live in either of the countries that is qualified for the Spotlight Rewards program. This consists of developed markets such as the United States markets, United Kingdom, Australian markets, Indian markets, and Brazil, as well as several other markets in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. This geographic restraint is intended to ensure that the program is targeted in markets where Snapchat’s audience is most active.
This monetization program was launched following Snapchat’s desire to grow the creator economy on the platform. By providing firms an opportunity to attract audiences through incentives derived from the videos produced, Snapchat aims at increasing the number of creative videos produced while expanding the Snapchat platform’s overall content base and activity.
Snapchat's Spotlight Rewards Faces Limitations Despite Growth
Nevertheless, given that only this list of countries is eligible for the Spotlight Rewards, different possibilities of the CNW for creators you can read here, Snapchat’s new program brings a sense of anticipation and novelty to creators all around the world. As it now stands, the program is only offered in a few areas, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, leaving out significant market segments in other parts of the world. Increasing the list of the approved countries of residence is another way to deal with the competition with platforms such as YouTube and TikTok.
The scarcity of the program could also be a limiting factor to the growth of a third-party ecosystem on Snapchat. Currently, Snapchat limits the payment to creators based on their residential locations, meaning that they can exclude viable content from the application. Expanding the program could bring out more content creators to the platform and also offer consumers much more diversified content.
But still, Snapchat might be skeptical when it comes to the further development of the program. Expanding the scope of payments to creators in more settings is increasing the cost of operations and complicating the business model of the company. Instead, the platform may want to trial the program in a few markets before rolling it out on a global basis.
Nonetheless, Snapchat still records growth in the share of content generated by creators amid these challenges. Indeed, the proportion of creators actively publishing public content has increased by 3.5 times over the past year, indicating that there is significant interest in creator tools and monetization. Furthermore, Spotlight has seen a 25% enhancement in views compared to last year, which shows the growing interest in the short form of videos that Spotlight airs.
Such positive trends are indicative of the fact that Snapchat is headed in the right direction in endeavoring to build a creator community. Although the Spotlight Rewards program has its drawbacks, just content production and user activity on the platform indicate the prospect for the application to become a leading player in the social networking market if it can only dispel geographic restrictions in the future.
