The problem with the promotional market
Most online promotion runs through the same handful of platforms, catering primarily to big brands with big wallets. If you're an indie game developer, a small streamer or an artist working with a tight budget, the barrier to entry is just too high.
What Spotlite does differently
Spotlite lets Discord communities create promotional space directly in their servers. A promoter pays the community directly for a featured, clearly disclosed spot, reviewed by that community's own moderators before it goes live. There are no big brands involved and no algorithm ranking you against advertisers system-wide. Some communities offer their Spotlites for free, others ask for a fee, and when demand is particularly high they can auction the slots off to the highest bidder. One thing is for sure - it's entirely up to the communities and the promoters to work together and figure out what works for them.
Twenty-four hours, not thirty seconds
With the anti-spam approach in mind, a Spotlite runs for a full day by default, which is long enough to give each featured post real time in the spotlight, and to give the regulars ample time to notice the feature of the day. No rush, no forced impressions.
Money stays with the community
Spotlite takes a small share to keep things running, and the majority of the earnings goes to the community that hosted the spot. What they do with it is up to them: split it among the moderators for their hard work, put it toward server costs, get a Nitro subscription, or raise funds for a cause the community supports.
An alternative discovery path
Getting seen usually means being at the mercy of some big platform's algorithm. With Spotlite Hub, we're giving both the promoters and the communities additional discoverability opportunities. It provides more visibility to both the promoted projects as well as the communities offering the promotional space. You help each other grow.
We built Spotlite to give regular people a way to support each other directly, with the tools they already have.