Snapchat is looking to the next phase of growth for its TikTok rival Spotlight, as the company now expands developer tools to let the developer integrate their app into Spotlight clips. That would allow the developer's users to create Spotlight videos with those extra creative tools and publish them directly to the Spotlight feed.

Users would then be able to shoot Spotlight clips within, for example, the Voicey app, uploading them directly into the Spotlight feed in Snap. That clip would include a Voicey link, tapped which users would see other Spotlight clips created inside that same app, along with quick link to download it from the relevant app store.

That would greatly improve the availability of creative tools for Spotlight, as different apps link into the feature with varied functionalities, thereby opening new ways to create wholly different clips in Spotlight beyond the creative tools within the main app.

It'll also give more promotional value to Snapchat's development partners. With Snap's developer tools, there are now more ways to link into the Snap ecosystem for app promotion and usage - and with 280 million daily actives, and a huge presence among Gen Z users, that could provide great exposure potential, giving Snapchat more creative tools and options, and developers more direct linkage into this key market subset.

Initial integrations of Spotlight are now available from Lightricks, Splice, Powder, Piñata Farms, and others, offering a brand new portfolio of creative options for the option that already has more than 125 million Snapchatters using it every month.

The expanded toolset also offers more opportunity for Snapchat to stumble upon the next viral trend in the format, and while it has a way to go to catch up to TikTok, Snapchat has long relied on creative tools to build awareness and usage.

And with Snap still paying out money to top Spotlight creators to encourage take-up, this will further add to its incentive tools to make Spotlight a bigger consideration.