Snapchat heats up competition with new short video feature – Spotlight

Snapchat has taken its game to a whole new level, with the launch of its short video feature Spotlight in India. And this will definitely heat up the competition with fellow digital platforms, such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. The 30 to 60 second video content format has gained immense popularity amongst users and creators.

Late year, Snapchat had said that Spotlight presents an opportunity for the company to exponentially expand the amount of entertaining content available to users. Previously, the platform’s users were limited to seeing snaps posted by their friends or by publishers in the app’s Discover feature. Spotlight will give users a centralized location where they can access an endless feed of user-generated content.

Its priority is to create a solid creator community, therefore it is not only rewarding creators, but also allowing them to post short videos anonymously apart from turning off the comments to check trolling. To lure creators and influencers to use Spotlight, Snapchat has opened up its global $1 million fund for India, under which viral short videos will get some money from the platform as reward.

A Snapchat spokesperson said there will be no ads placed into Spotlight in India at launch, though the company will introduce it in the coming months. “When Snap Ads are introduced, they will be full screen and there won’t be public comments – just as with Snap Ads on the rest of the service. As always, we remain committed to delivering high RoI and a safe platform for our partners.”

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Before India, Spotlight launched in 11 countries, including US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and Brazil. Since its initial launch in November 2020, the social video platform has garnered 100 million users. Similar to TikTok, it has a vertical scrolling feed design, but no comments section.