Snapchat’s feature that pays creators for viral videos is called Spotlight.
Snap introduced Spotlight in November 2020 as a short-form video feed designed to showcase entertaining vertical videos from Snapchat users. Unlike personal Stories, Spotlight posts are intended for broad discovery and can be viewed by people beyond the creator’s immediate circle.
At launch, Snapchat announced a promotional fund of $1 million per day for creators whose videos performed especially well. The program helped Snapchat compete more directly with short-video platforms such as TikTok, while keeping creation inside Snapchat’s camera-and-messaging ecosystem.
Spotlight is often confused with Stories, Discover, or Snap Originals. Stories are collections of a user’s posts, Discover is a publisher and media-content area, and Snap Originals are professionally produced shows. Spotlight specifically refers to the public, algorithmically selected video feed and its creator-reward program. Snapchat later changed the original daily-payout structure to a broader monthly model.