On Tuesday, Snap disclosed a big new number: This year, it has paid 12,000 creators over $250 million to make videos for Spotlight, its short-form video alternative to TikTok.
The Snapchat parent was one of the first social networks to dedicate a special pool of money to pay creators, announcing just over a year ago that it would spend $1 million a day on creators making Spotlight videos. But as rivals like Meta Platforms announced their own creator funds—and executives got a better sense of the money’s benefits—Snap slowed that spending. (See a chart on how creator funds stack up.)