Snapchat to start paying content creators by 2018

MANILA, Philippines – Snapchat parent company, Snap Inc., reported their earnings for the third quarter of 2017 on Wednesday, November 8.

Results were less than stellar, with the company reporting losses of more than $400 million, which is 3 times that of last year’s losses from the same period. (READ: Snapchat parent company triples losses at $443M for Q3 2017)

To combat the drop, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel promised a number of changes coming to the platform, such as rebuilding their Android app from the ground up, creating faster content streaming architectures, and improving content discovery methods. Admitting the app may be less accessible than other competing apps, the company’s goal for the near-future is to hugely enhance the user-friendliness of the app. (READ: Rumors of Snapchat shutting down by ‘end of 2017’ debunked)

For heavy users though, the promise that rang the loudest was this: Snap is looking to monetize the platform for its content creators a la YouTube. A YouTube channel with around 7000 views a day can earn as much as P500,000 (around $9,700) a year, according to industry monitor Social Blade. YouTube’s ad-based monetization process has made it attractive for some individuals to create traffic-generating content on the platform. 

This 2018, Snapchat is looking to do the same. 

Spiegel said in their report that they’ve “historically neglected the creator community on Snapchat,” having focused more on creating tools to “empower the creation of user generated content from friends and premium content from publishers.” Snapchat hopes to change that this year with the CEO promising financial incentives for users that generate traffic with their content. 

“In 2018, we are going to build more distribution and monetization opportunities for these creators in an effort to empower our creative community to express themselves to a larger audience and build a business with their creativity. Developing this ecosystem will allow artists to transition more easily from communicating with friends to creating Stories for a broader audience, monetizing their Stories, and potentially using our professional tools to create premium content,” stated the CEO. 

Snapchat’s user base, while not as large as the two-billion-strong Facebook, may be fertile ground for those with a penchant for social media creativity. The app currently has 178 million daily active users – and the first content creators to be able to attract a good portion of these users may be looking at a handsome payday.

For Snapchat, the hope is that the content creators reignite the momentum that they’ve lost since their initial public offering earlier this year. – Rappler.com