Snapchat Wants You to Post. It’s Willing to Pay Millions.

In November, Snapchat announced the launch of Spotlight and their $1M a day program for top Spotlight Snaps. As $1M a day continues, New York Times tapped in with Taylor Lorenz to speak about the inspiring success and earnings many creators are finding in Spotlight.

In late November, Cam Casey, a TikTok star with over seven million followers, was relaxing at home when he decided to upload a video of a science experiment that resulted in a Coca-Cola bottle exploding to Snapchat.

Mr. Casey, 19, had read that the company had introduced a new TikTok-like feature called Spotlight within the app where users could share short-form videos. He wondered if some old videos from his camera roll could get traction.

Two weeks later, Snapchat came calling: Mr. Casey was one of the top performers on the platform and was going to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Encouraged by his early success, he began posting more videos — sometimes up to 120 per day — uploading fresh content every few minutes from 8 a.m. to midnight.

As of Tuesday, he had been paid nearly $3 million by the company for content that went viral.