GIF made from a video ad for Sugar Bear Hair’s “Chewy Hair Vitamins” on Kim Kardashian’s Instagram

Agencies like the Federal Trade Commission have started to crack down on celebrity endorsements on networks like Instagram and YouTube. But have you ever wondered how much your average celebrity gets paid for a post? Not Kim Kardashian West or Kanye West. We know they can make millions from endorsements. But just your average, run-of-the-mill celeb or internet-famous “influencer” with a few million followers? They still make tens of thousands of dollars.


The New York Times has a new article about the FTC’s efforts to get celebrities to more clearly define ads. Kim K and others have gotten into hot water with agencies like the FDA for being misleading, and the FTC has not been too happy with the opaque nature of celebrity endorsements on social media.


But the most fascinating part of the article might be about precisely how much celebrities can rake in from social media posts.

Captiv8, a company that connects brands to influencers, says someone with three million to seven million followers can charge, on average, $187,500 for a post on YouTube, $75,000 for a post on Instagram or Snapchat and $30,000 for a post on Twitter. For influencers with 50,000 to 500,000 followers, the average is $2,500 for YouTube, $1,000 for Instagram or Snapchat and $400 for Twitter.

The FTC doesn’t have any problem with celebrities making money by selling ads on their social media accounts, but they’d like consumers to know when a given post has been bought and paid for—especially when so much money is changing hands.

And if you have three million Instagram followers and aren’t monetizing that audience, what are you doing? There’s $75,000 with your name on it if you’ll just act like Kim Kardashian and pretend to eat a “Chewy Hair Vitamin,” whatever that is.


Kardashian, with over 81 million Instagram followers, certainly got paid a lot more than that.

Screenshot of Kim Kardashian’s ad for Sugar Bear Hair chewable gummy vitamins (Instagram)


[New York Times]

