Snapchat Spotlight Scraper

Scrape Snapchat Spotlight videos: views, shares, and creators

Snapchat Spotlight Scraper takes Snapchat Spotlight URLs and returns each video's performance and details: view count, share count, upload date, duration, description, hashtags, the creator who posted it, and a direct link to the video file. Use it to measure how Spotlight content performs, or to collect examples of what works in a niche.

What you get

One dataset row per Spotlight. The fields:

Field	What it holds
url	The Spotlight's page on Snapchat
viewCount, shareCount	How many times it was viewed and shared
dateUploaded	When it was posted
description, hashtags	The caption and the hashtags on it
creator	Who posted it: name, username, profile url, thumbnailUrl, and snapcodeUrl
contentUrl	A direct link to the video file
thumbnailUrl	The cover image
durationMs, width, height	Length in milliseconds and the video size
errorDescription	Why a URL could not be read, when it could not

The shape of one row, with types in place of values, taken from the fields recent runs returned:

{
  "url": "string",
  "viewCount": 0,
  "shareCount": 0,
  "dateUploaded": "string",
  "description": "string",
  "hashtags": ["string"],
  "creator": { "username": "string", "name": "string", "url": "string" },
  "contentUrl": "string",
  "durationMs": 0
}

When a URL cannot be read, for example because the Spotlight was removed, the row carries errorDescription instead of the data.

How to scrape Snapchat Spotlights in Apify Console

1. Copy the URL of each Spotlight you want, in the form https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/....
2. Paste them into spotlightUrls, one per line.
3. Start the run and export the dataset as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Input

One field.

Field	Type	What it does
spotlightUrls	array	Snapchat Spotlight URLs, for example https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYdW94bXd5dmF5AYv9OiSkAYv9OiP4AAAAAQ

The smallest input that works:

{
  "spotlightUrls": [
    "https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYdW94bXd5dmF5AYv9OiSkAYv9OiP4AAAAAQ"
  ]
}

Ways to use it

• Measure a campaign. Collect the Spotlights a brand or creator posted and compare views and shares per video.
• Find what travels. Share count shows which videos people pass on, which is a different signal from views.
• Build a reference set. Captions, hashtags, and video links for the Spotlights you study, in one table.

Call it from code, or from an AI agent

Start a run with the Apify API and get the rows back in the same request:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/tri_angle~snapchat-spotlight-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"spotlightUrls": ["https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYdW94bXd5dmF5AYv9OiSkAYv9OiP4AAAAAQ"]}'

The Apify client for JavaScript or Python does the same. In Python:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("tri_angle/snapchat-spotlight-scraper").call(
    run_input={"spotlightUrls": ["https://www.snapchat.com/spotlight/W7_EDlXWTBiXAEEniNoMPwAAYdW94bXd5dmF5AYv9OiSkAYv9OiP4AAAAAQ"]}
)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["viewCount"], item["shareCount"], item["url"])

Apify's integrations also send the rows to Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, or n8n.

To let an agent use it, connect Apify's MCP server at https://mcp.apify.com in Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client and add Snapchat Spotlight Scraper as a tool. The agent can then report how a set of videos performed.

What it costs

You pay per event:

Event	Price
Actor start	$0.001
Spotlight	$0.0015

So 1,000 Spotlights cost about $1.50.

Related Actor

Snapchat Scraper starts from a profile instead: its subscriber count, stories, and Spotlight videos in one row.

Limitations

• It takes Spotlight URLs. To find Spotlights from a profile, run Snapchat Scraper first.
• Public Spotlights only, as Snapchat shows them at run time.
• contentUrl is a link to the video, not the downloaded file.

Troubleshooting

These cover what usually goes wrong.

• A row has only errorDescription. The Spotlight was removed or the URL is wrong. Open it in a browser to check.
• Counts differ from the app. Snapchat updates counts constantly. The row has what Snapchat showed at run time.

For anything else, open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab with your run ID.

Frequently asked questions

These are the questions people ask before their first run.

Is the Snapchat data live?

Yes. Every run reads the Spotlights at the time it runs.

What is the smallest input that works?

One Spotlight URL in spotlightUrls.

What happens when a Spotlight was removed?

You get a row with errorDescription explaining it, instead of the video's data.

Can I use it as a Snapchat Spotlight API?

Yes. Call it through the Apify API with a JSON input and read the rows back as JSON. It needs no Snapchat account or login.

Does it work with MCP and AI agents?

Yes. Add it to Apify's MCP server and any MCP client can run it as a tool.

How much does it cost to scrape 1,000 Spotlights?

About $1.50, plus $0.001 for the run.

Can I download the videos?

The output includes contentUrl, a direct link to each video file. The Actor collects the links, not the files.

Can I track a video's views over time?

Yes. Save the URLs as a task in Apify Console and add a daily schedule. Each run records the counts at that moment.

Is it legal to scrape Snapchat?

Scraping publicly available data is generally legal, but creators are people, and their names can be personal data, which laws such as GDPR protect. Collect only what you need, and ask a lawyer if you are unsure about your use case.