Snapchat Spotlight Scraper with Free Comments

What does Snapchat Spotlight Scraper do?

Snapchat Spotlight Scraper extracts public Snapchat Spotlight videos, engagement statistics, AI-generated content metadata, and community top comments directly into structured datasets. You provide direct Spotlight video URLs to collect comprehensive video analytics, media links, and user discussions in seconds.

Unlike conventional social media scrapers that trigger expensive secondary requests or bill extra credits for comment extraction, this Actor captures up to 25 top comments pre-rendered in the initial video page at zero extra request cost. Each scraped Spotlight record delivers complete engagement metrics—including verified play counts, share volumes, total comment counts, boost metrics, and recommendation counts—alongside direct video download links, high-resolution thumbnail images, and audio transcription caption tracks when published.

A dedicated configuration toggle, Include top comments (Free), allows you to choose whether community discussions should be attached to each record. When checked (default), up to 25 top comments with author display names, reaction like counts, threaded reply counts, and posting timestamps are included. When unchecked, comments are omitted from the dataset, providing a lightweight output focused strictly on core video metadata and engagement metrics.

Whether you are auditing creator performance, monitoring viral content trends, performing competitive social intelligence, or gathering audience sentiment across vertical video campaigns, this Actor transforms unstructured Snapchat content into flat, analysis-ready datasets exportable to CSV, JSON, Microsoft Excel, or downstream API pipelines.

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Why use this Actor?

• Top comments included at no extra cost — Every Spotlight video record captures up to 25 top-ranked public comments with comment text, author display names, reaction like counts, threaded reply counts, and posting timestamps without triggering auxiliary requests or extra billing.
• Toggleable comment extraction — Easily enable or disable comment inclusion via the "Include top comments (Free)" checkbox. Keep it checked for comprehensive audience sentiment or uncheck it for streamlined video metadata and engagement audits.
• Direct Spotlight URL targeting — Input canonical Spotlight video URLs (e.g. https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/<id> or https://www.snapchat.com/@creator/spotlight/<id>) for precise, repeatable data collection.
• Complete engagement metrics — Collect exact numeric counts for views, shares, total comments, boosts, and recommendations to evaluate creator reach and engagement velocity.
• AI-generated summaries and tags — Extract Snapchat's automated title, content summary description, topic classification keywords, and detected audio spoken language code for effortless grouping and sentiment categorization.
• Direct media and audio caption assets — Obtain direct downloadable MP4 video links, image thumbnails, and WEBVTT audio caption transcription files for media archival and automated text processing.
• No authentication or cookies needed — Run automated extractions without maintaining personal Snapchat accounts, login credentials, or browser session tokens.
• Standardized flat schema — Receive consistent column structures across all rows, enabling instant import into relational databases, business intelligence dashboards, and spreadsheets without complex data reshaping.

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Who is this Actor for?

Influencer Marketing Agencies & Talent Managers

Evaluate creator performance before committing campaign budgets. Verify real engagement numbers across specific Spotlight videos, measure comment-to-view ratios, and assess audience reception by analyzing top comment reactions and discussion tone.

Brand Strategists & Social Media Managers

Track competitors and industry leaders across Snapchat Spotlight. Discover which video concepts, hashtags, and sound tracks achieve viral distribution, and examine audience feedback to uncover unmet market demands.

Market Researchers & Data Scientists

Build longitudinal datasets of vertical video trends. Analyze linguistic patterns from detected spoken languages, extract topic keywords for content classification, and train predictive models on video duration, sound selections, and engagement totals.

Content Creators & Media Publishers

Benchmark your Spotlight videos against peers. Monitor which topics yield higher recommendation and boost counts, archive published video links, and review audience feedback to refine upcoming production strategies.

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Getting Started

Running an extraction requires only a few clicks in the Apify Console or a single API call:

1. Enter Spotlight URLs: Provide one or more direct Snapchat Spotlight URLs in the startUrls input field.
2. Configure comment settings: Keep the "Include top comments (Free)" checkbox selected to capture pre-rendered top comments, or deselect it if you only require video metadata.
3. Select proxy settings: Keep Apify residential proxies enabled to ensure reliable access to public pages.
4. Run the Actor: Click Start and monitor real-time progress logs as Spotlight videos are collected.
5. Export your data: Download the dataset in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML format, or connect it directly to webhooks and automation workflows.

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Input Examples

Example 1: Standard Spotlight extraction with free top comments

Extract a specific Spotlight video with full engagement metrics and attached top comments:

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYeG9xcGd0ZWd3AZ14BVv0AZ14BQkrAAAAAQ"
  ],
  "includeComments": true
}

Example 2: Lightweight video audit without comments

Target Spotlight videos to collect strictly video metrics, AI summaries, and media links while omitting comments:

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.snapchat.com/@nasa/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYeG9xcGd0ZWd3AZ14BVv0AZ14BQkrAAAAAQ"
  ],
  "includeComments": false
}

Example 3: Batch multi-video collection

Extract multiple Spotlight video URLs in a single run with top comments included:

{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYeG9xcGd0ZWd3AZ14BVv0AZ14BQkrAAAAAQ",
    "https://www.snapchat.com/@selenagomez/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYeG9xcGd0ZWd3AZ14BVv0AZ14BQkrAAAAAR"
  ],
  "includeComments": true
}

---

Input Parameters

The Actor accepts the following input properties:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
startUrls	Array of strings	["https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/..."]	List of direct Snapchat Spotlight video URLs to scrape.
includeComments	Boolean	true	When checked, attaches the top pre-rendered comments (up to 25). When unchecked, comments are omitted from the results.

---

Output Data Structure

Each row in the dataset represents an individual Spotlight video with its creator details, engagement figures, automated categorization data, and attached top comments (when enabled).

Sample Output Record (With Top Comments Included)

{
  "id": "W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYeG9xcGd0ZWd3AZ14BVv0AZ14BQkrAAAAAQ",
  "url": "https://www.snapchat.com/@nasa/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYeG9xcGd0ZWd3AZ14BVv0AZ14BQkrAAAAAQ",
  "title": "NASA Crew Celebrates Moon Flyby with 'Moon Joy' & Team Rejoices",
  "description": "Witness the awe-inspiring journey of NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station as they witness the full moon and celebrate a successful mission milestone.",
  "aiTitle": "NASA Crew Celebrates Moon Flyby with 'Moon Joy' & Team Rejoices",
  "aiDescription": "Witness the awe-inspiring journey of NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station as they witness the full moon and celebrate a successful mission milestone.",
  "creatorUsername": "nasa",
  "creatorName": "NASA",
  "creatorUrl": "https://www.snapchat.com/@nasa",
  "creatorSubscriberCount": 757600,
  "uploadedAt": "2026-04-10T15:31:29.195Z",
  "durationMs": 87330,
  "duration": "1:27",
  "width": 540,
  "height": 960,
  "viewCount": 24974,
  "shareCount": 162,
  "commentCount": 124,
  "boostCount": 2335,
  "recommendCount": 118,
  "imageUrl": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/d/1z1p5kZtkBheBrRMCmyGi.256.IRZXSOY?mo=GkYaCTIBBEgCUC5gAVCgAVoQRGZMYXJnZVRodW1ibmFpbKIBEAiAAiILEgAqB0lSWlhTT1miARAImgoiCxIAKgdJUlpYU09Z&uc=46",
  "mediaUrl": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/d/1z1p5kZtkBheBrRMCmyGi.27.IRZXSOY?mo=GmAaCTIBBEgCUC5gAVCiAVoQU3BvdGxpZ2h0U2hhcmluZ6IBOAgbEicKJQitz60DIAEwnAQ4wAdAAUoOCgl_EBAQEBEREw8Q9ANQoqoFaAIiCxIAKgdJUlpYU09ZkAOiqgU%3D&uc=46",
  "language": "en",
  "soundTitle": "Original Sound",
  "soundAuthor": "nasa",
  "transcriptUrl": "https://bolt-gcdn.sc-cdn.net/3/Hdz584VwuQVh7GZbqjXeQ.vtt?bo=EgkyAX1IAlAuYAE%3D&uc=46",
  "transcript": "It's just everything from the training, but in three dimension and absolutely unbelievable...",
  "keywords": [
    "astronaut",
    "spacewalk",
    "exploration",
    "cosmos",
    "NASA"
  ],
  "hashtags": [],
  "comments": [
    {
      "replyId": "10608778740304986851_11612249598755259675",
      "text": "Space isn't real guys. Open your turd eye.",
      "author": "GUSS DINGLEBERRY",
      "postedAt": "2026-04-10T18:14:26.597Z",
      "likeCount": 26,
      "replyCount": 32,
      "authorProfileLogoUrl": "https://cf-st.sc-cdn.net/aps/bolt/aHR0cHM6Ly9jZi1zdC5zYy1jZG4ubmV0L2Qvbjd1SWgxelZzNEowM3FPTGJubzQ1P2JvPUVnMGFBQm9BTWdFRVNBSlFHV0FCJnVjPTI1._RS0,640_FMjpeg",
      "rankingScore": 2264
    },
    {
      "replyId": "507999405371704256_11856875111675513997",
      "text": "This was an amazing mission great job to nasa for doing this I can't wait for a landing!!!",
      "author": "Luke",
      "postedAt": "2026-04-10T15:47:00.628Z",
      "likeCount": 34,
      "replyCount": 0,
      "authorProfileLogoUrl": null,
      "rankingScore": 1000
    }
  ],
  "commentsCollected": 2,
  "isSponsored": null,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-25T17:59:11.060Z"
}

Output Fields Reference

Field	Type	Description
id	String	Unique identifier of the Spotlight snap.
url	String	Canonical URL of the Spotlight video on Snapchat.
title	String	Video title, prioritizing AI title or creator headline.
description	String	Creator caption or textual description attached to the video.
aiTitle	String / Null	Automated descriptive title generated by Snapchat's content classification systems.
aiDescription	String / Null	Automated summary of the video's visual action and topic generated by Snapchat.
creatorUsername	String	Creator's public Snapchat handle.
creatorName	String / Null	Creator's public display name.
creatorUrl	String	Canonical URL to the creator's Snapchat profile.
creatorSubscriberCount	Integer / Null	Exact number of subscribers on the creator profile.
uploadedAt	String / Null	Upload timestamp formatted in ISO 8601 UTC.
durationMs	Integer / Null	Video duration in milliseconds.
duration	String / Null	Formatted duration string in m:ss (e.g., 1:27).
width	Integer / Null	Video resolution width in pixels.
height	Integer / Null	Video resolution height in pixels.
viewCount	Integer / Null	Total play and view count reported by Snapchat.
shareCount	Integer / Null	Total shares count reported by Snapchat.
commentCount	Integer / Null	Total number of comments posted to this Spotlight video on Snapchat.
boostCount	Integer / Null	Total boosts received by the video.
recommendCount	Integer / Null	Total recommendation votes received by the video.
imageUrl	String / Null	Direct URL to the primary video thumbnail image.
mediaUrl	String / Null	Direct URL to download the full MP4 video file.
language	String / Null	Two-letter ISO language code of the detected spoken dialogue.
soundTitle	String / Null	Name of the background audio track or sound used.
soundAuthor	String / Null	Creator or artist responsible for the audio track.
transcriptUrl	String / Null	Direct link to the WEBVTT caption file when subtitles are available.
transcript	String / Null	Cleaned plain-text transcript of the spoken dialogue when available.
keywords	Array of strings	Automated topic classification keywords assigned to the video.
hashtags	Array of strings	Hashtags included in the caption or metadata.
comments	Array of objects	Top public comments attached to the video when includeComments is enabled. Omitted when disabled.
commentsCollected	Integer	Total number of comment objects populated in the comments array. Omitted when includeComments is disabled.
isSponsored	Boolean / Null	Indicates whether the Spotlight post is designated as sponsored content.
scrapedAt	String	ISO 8601 UTC timestamp recording when the data was extracted.

---

Free Top Comments Feature

A major advantage of this Actor is that community discussions are included directly with each Spotlight video at no extra cost:

• Top comments included — Capture up to 25 top community comments per video without extra charges or separate addons.
• Rich interaction metadata — Each comment item includes the comment text, author display name, like counts, reply counts, and posting timestamps.
• Total discussion visibility — The commentCount field provides the video's all-time comment total on Snapchat for complete context.
• User-controlled attachment — Easily include or exclude comments using the Include top comments (Free) toggle setting.

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Applied Step-by-Step Workflows

Workflow 1: Influencer Benchmarking & Spotlight Audits

Before contracting an influencer for a sponsored brand campaign, agencies need to verify genuine engagement quality and audience sentiment on specific Spotlight videos.

1. Input Setup: Gather specific Spotlight video URLs across your target campaign category and input them into startUrls.
2. Configure Options: Keep includeComments: true enabled to capture community reactions and discussion tone.
3. Execution: Start the run. The scraper visits each Spotlight video URL and returns comprehensive metadata and comments.
4. Data Analysis:
   • Verify views (viewCount) and shares (shareCount) across videos to identify reach and viral traction.
   • Calculate engagement ratios: (shareCount + commentCount) / viewCount.
   • Scan the comments array for organic feedback versus generic bot reactions.

Workflow 2: Trend & Sound Tracking Across Vertical Video

Discover which audio tracks and topic categories are driving viral distribution across vertical short-form video.

1. Input Setup: Input candidate Spotlight URLs into startUrls.
2. Execution: Run the Actor with includeComments: true or includeComments: false depending on whether comment sentiment is required.
3. Aggregation:
   • Group results by soundTitle and soundAuthor to identify trending audio tracks.
   • Analyze keywords and hashtags to pinpoint high-velocity content themes.
   • Use transcript text to conduct keyword frequency analysis on spoken dialogue.

Workflow 3: Automated Monitoring via Apify API & Webhooks

Integrate Snapchat Spotlight metrics into your corporate business intelligence warehouse or Slack alerting system.

1. Schedule: Set up an Apify Schedule to trigger the Actor with target Spotlight URLs on a daily or weekly schedule.
2. Webhook Integration: Configure an Apify Webhook on run completion targeting an endpoint in Make, Zapier, or your custom server.
3. Automated Alerts: Filter for videos where viewCount increases by more than 50% week-over-week or where negative sentiment appears in top comments.

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Integration and Automation Options

Apify provides native connectors to route Snapchat Spotlight data into dozens of cloud storage, database, and automation platforms:

• Google Drive & Google Sheets: Automatically append scraped Spotlight rows to a shared spreadsheet for marketing team reviews.
• Amazon S3 & Google Cloud Storage: Archive raw JSON payloads for long-term data warehousing and custom analytics.
• Zapier & Make (Integromat): Build no-code workflows that post viral Spotlight milestones or negative comment alerts directly to Slack, Discord, or Microsoft Teams.
• Airbyte & Keboola: Synchronize Spotlight datasets into Snowflake, BigQuery, PostgreSQL, or Databricks for cross-platform social intelligence modeling.

API Integration Example (Node.js)

Call the Actor programmatically from your backend application using the official Apify JavaScript SDK:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN,
});

const run = await client.actor('karamelo/snapchat-spotlight-scraper-with-free-comments').call({
    startUrls: [
        'https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYeG9xcGd0ZWd3AZ14BVv0AZ14BQkrAAAAAQ',
    ],
    includeComments: true,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Successfully retrieved ${items.length} Spotlight video records.`);
for (const item of items) {
    console.log(`Video: ${item.title} | Views: ${item.viewCount} | Comments Attached: ${item.commentsCollected ?? 0}`);
}

API Integration Example (Python)

Trigger runs and retrieve structured datasets in Python pipelines:

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.getenv('APIFY_TOKEN'))

run_input = {
    'startUrls': [
        'https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYeG9xcGd0ZWd3AZ14BVv0AZ14BQkrAAAAAQ',
    ],
    'includeComments': True,
}

run = client.actor('karamelo/snapchat-spotlight-scraper-with-free-comments').call(run_input=run_input)

dataset_items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
for item in dataset_items:
    print(f"Title: {item.get('title')} | Views: {item.get('viewCount')} | Top Comments: {item.get('commentsCollected', 0)}")

---

Limitations and Responsible Scraping

To maintain sustainable operation and respect platform resources, keep the following scope characteristics in mind:

• Public Content Only: This Actor only accesses publicly accessible Spotlight videos. Private snaps, direct messages, restricted friendship stories, and private profile content are not accessible and cannot be scraped.
• Initial Top Comments Ceiling: Snapchat provides up to 25 top comments in the initial page HTML. Comments beyond this top-ranked slice require interactive dynamic pagination sessions that are outside this zero-cost extraction model.
• Direct Video URL Lifetime: The direct media URLs (mediaUrl and imageUrl) are signed content delivery links hosted on Snapchat's CDN. These URLs typically expire after several hours. If you plan to use video or thumbnail media long-term, download the files immediately upon extraction.
• Audio Captions Availability: Not all Spotlight videos feature automated audio captions. The transcript and transcriptUrl fields will be populated only when subtitles were generated and published by Snapchat.
• Rate Limits & Proxies: Public social media platforms implement automated traffic management. The Actor includes automated proxy rotation and fallback handling to ensure continuous availability.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Are comments really free to scrape?

Yes. Unlike typical scrapers that perform supplementary network requests for each comment page, Snapchat includes up to 25 pre-ranked top comments in the initial HTML payload of the Spotlight video page. Our Actor extracts these comments directly during the primary video request, so no extra requests or billing costs are incurred.

Can I turn off comment collection if I only want video metrics?

Yes. Simply uncheck the Include top comments (Free) option in the input. When unchecked, comments are completely omitted from the results, giving you a streamlined dataset containing only video details and engagement statistics.

What kind of URLs can I provide in startUrls?

You can provide canonical Snapchat Spotlight video links, such as https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/<id> or https://www.snapchat.com/@creator/spotlight/<id>.

How many comments are returned per video?

When Include top comments (Free) is enabled, up to 25 top comments are attached per Spotlight video. If a video has fewer than 25 comments in total, all available comments from the initial page payload are returned.

Why do some Spotlight videos show a higher commentCount than the number of attached comments?

The commentCount field reflects the total all-time comment count reported by Snapchat. The attached comments array contains the top-ranked comments present in the initial page delivery (up to 25).

Can I download the actual MP4 video files?

Yes. The mediaUrl field provides a direct link to the MP4 video asset hosted on Snapchat's content delivery network. Because CDN links are time-limited, download the files to your own storage immediately after the Actor finishes.

Do I need to provide a Snapchat login or session cookies?

No. The Actor accesses only public Spotlight web pages. You do not need a Snapchat account, password, session token, or browser extension.

What formats can I export my data in?

Through the Apify Console and API, you can export your dataset to JSON, CSV, Microsoft Excel (XLSX), XML, and HTML table formats.

How often can I run this scraper?

You can execute runs as frequently as necessary, or schedule recurring runs using Apify Schedules. Ensure residential proxy options remain active for frequent or high-volume extractions.