Viral videos across the web could now come with some Snapchat flare.
Snap announced at its Partner Summit Thursday that it is launching a free new app on iOS for video editing and trend insights "later this year." The app, called Story Studio, includes "frame-precise trimming, slicing, and cutting," access to a Snap-licensed music catalogue, visual effects and AR lenses, the ability to save projects, and more.
While the app's intended users are "creators," anyone can download it, make videos, and share the product to Snapchat or other apps.
We're betting, however, that Snapchat really hopes creators using the app will choose to upload their creations to Snap and its TikTok-competitor portion of the app, Spotlight.
Snap launched Spotlight in the Snapchat app in November, and announced Thursday that it is launching a browser version on the web at Snapchat.com/Spotlight. Creators have clearly benefited from the platform thanks to a revenue-share agreement in which Snap pledged to split one million dollars per day among the creators whose videos generated the most views and engagement. Snap shared Thursday that, since launch, "5,400 Creators have earned more than $130 million dollars." That one million per day deal is ending in June, but Snap said it will still pay millions every month to Spotlight creators.
However, viewing the platform, it's not exactly clear what differentiates Spotlight from TikTok and Instagram's TikTok rival, Reels. TikTok is a favored video platform partially because of its intuitive and user-friendly editing. One thing Story Studio could have on TikTok is Snapchat's robust catalogue of AR lenses.
If creators take a liking to Story Studio's tricks and tools, perhaps the app has a chance to compete with TikTok — and give Spotlight a boost, too.
