- How much content creators make per post is dependent on a few factors such as their content genre, social media platform that they use, reach, and engagement rate.
- Rates also differ based on the deliverables, usage rates, and exclusivity.
- Indian Influencer marketing agencies and content creators explain how they earn money, how much they make per post on average and if there’s a need to standardise pricing across the industry.
It all starts with a barter.
Like many of us who started with an internship wherein we were paid in ‘exposure,’ social media content creators know they have arrived when a brand approaches them and requests them to post for free.
In exchange for one Instagram or YouTube shout-out, a creator is offered free brand products and exposure/reach/visibility.
Gradually, after a creator hits around 5k followers usually, finds a loyal audience and builds a niche brand image of sorts on the internet, the chances of them finding a paid deal get slightly better.
However, if you acquire a huge loyal fanbase and stable engagement rate like cricketer Virat Kohli, you can earn about $680,000 (₹5 crore) per Instagram post. There’s no upper limit.
Various roads to monetisation
There are a number of ways in which a creator can monetise their presence on social media platforms.
Mumbai-based digital content creator Rohit Sadhwani is more prominent on YouTube. He has amassed over 628000 subscribers on the video social media platform. He told us that a creator can earn through their monetised content, affiliate marketing, merchandise, branded content and platform-based revenue or in-video ads. For example, YouTube creators can earn through pre-roll skippable ads as per cost per mile (CPM), a metric used to measure the price of an advertisement per one thousand impressions or clicks.
“Facebook pays the most in terms of in-video ads and when it comes to branded content, YouTube pays the most among all social media platforms. We get a share of the platform’s revenue as per our CPM. For example, a creator will get ₹10 per thousand ad views. However, more than 70%-80% of a creator’s revenue comes from branded content,” shares Sadhwani with Business Insider India, as he humbly sits on the floor, explaining the process of influencer marketing.
Since there are no advertisements on Instagram India yet, content creators don’t receive a share from the platform. They have to rely completely on branded content. They are paid per Instagram sponsored post by a brand.
As of January 2022, Google-owned YouTube has more than 265 million monthly active users in India and 1,200 of its creators have crossed the one million subscriber milestone. Five years ago, only two creators had crossed the milestone.
Meta’s Instagram, on the other hand, had a total of 230.25 million users in India in January 2022, the largest Instagram audience in the world.
As per analytics and research firm Statista, YouTube had the highest number of professional creators globally at 1 million in January 2020, which means more than 1 million creators earned a living completely from publishing content on the platform. Instagram was the most popular platform among creators, with 30 million amateur creators monetising content on the Facebook-owned platform that year.
How is a creator shortlisted?
After a brand finalises its budget for its campaign, influencer marketing platform Deckster.Live’s founder, Shivam Agarwal says that there are a number of factors that are involved in shortlisting a content creator later.
“It is not just the number of followers that matters when zeroing down on the cost. Many other factors like the type of influencer’s content, genre, engagement rate, and audience matter equally,” he clarifies.
As per the cofounder of influencer marketing and digital agency IPLIX, Jag Chima, brands appreciate a good return on investment (ROI).
“Brands generally want to see insights and track record for conversion. Ultimately, it comes down to ROI [return on investment], so, a good return on investment can be around 3:1 meaning a 3 dollar return for every dollar spent.”
Telling us how a creator’s value is calculated by brand on the other side of the table, Arushi Gupta, business head, Influencer.in says, “It depends on metrics of their account like average reach, engagement, views of their recent content created. Secondly, credibility. Type of content created: How is the quality of the content created and its alignment with brand values. Relevancy of the audience and how aligned it is for the brand’s objective and the product.”
GroupM’s influencer marketing and analytics agency INCA estimates that influencer marketing is poised to grow at a CAGR of 25% for the next decade, reaching a size of ₹2200 crore in 2025. It further said that nearly two-thirds of the Indian population already follow an influencer.
