Spotlight Explodes: Snap’s TikTok Competitor Up 125% in Watch Time

As a part of its Q1 2024 earnings release, the company Snapchat has revealed that the total watch time on its TikTok competitor, Spotlight, has been increasing by more than 125% year-over-year.

Snapchat launched the Tik-Tok-like feed in late 2020 as a way to compete with the rising popularity of TikTok. And since President Joe Biden signed a bill that would more than likely ban TikTok, the platform has been experiencing unprecedented growth in its user base.

Snap says that the app had about 422 million daily active users in Q1 of 2024. This is an increase of 30 million or 10%, year over year. The number of Snapchat+ subscribers has also increased, easily surpassing 9 million subscribers in the quarter.

Snapchat also plans to invest in generative AI models for the creation of lenses on the platform, as they have noted that the number of ML and AI lenses viewed by users has increased by more than 50% this year alone.

The number of advertisers in the company rose more than 85% this year alone, because of this Snaps shares rose more than 26% in extended trading on Thursday. The company, which had to lay off 10% of its workforce in February, says that it is now preparing to increase the number of its employees as we move through 2024.