The highest earners on Instagram have been revealed, with the likes of Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian and Zoella reportedly earning tens of thousands for sponsored posts.
Researchers from Instagram scheduling tool HopperHQ analysed the 1.2 million posts scheduled through the platform and compiled the first ever Instagram “rich list”.
They claim Selena Gomez earns around £424,000 per post and Kim Kardashian earns around £385,000 per post.
In contrast, British blogger Zoella reportedly earns around £10,800 per post.
According to the research, only a fifth (21%) of sponsored posts were clear that the user had been paid to post content.
It also discovered that on average, one in 20 Instagram users now monetise their posts and sponsored content has increased by more than a third on Instagram (34%) since 2015.
The top 10 in the 2017 Celebrity Instagram Rich List were found to be:
1. Selena Gomez – 122 million followers – $550,000 (£424,000) per post
2. Kim Kardashian – 100 million followers – $500,000 (£385,000) per post
3. Cristiano Ronaldo – 104 million followers – $400,000 (£308,000) per post
4. Kylie Jenner – 95 million followers – $400,000 ((£308,000) per post
5. Kendall Jenner – 81.7 million followers – $370,000 (£285,000) per post
6. Khloe Kardashian – 68 million followers – $250,000 (£192,600) per post
7. Kourtney Kardashian – 57.8 million followers – $250,000 (£192,600) per post
8. Cara Delevingne – 40.4 million followers – $150,000 (£115,500) per post
9. Gigi Hadid 34.7 million followers – $120,000 (£92,457) per post
10. Lebron James – 30.7 million followers – $120,000 (£92,457) per post
The top 10 in the 2017 Influencer Instagram Rich List were found to be:
1. Huda Kattan – 20.5 million followers – $18,000 (£13,800) per post
2. Cameron Dallas – 19.8 million followers – $17,000 (£13,000) per post
3. Jen Selter – 11.3 million followers – $15,000 (£11,500) per post
4. Zoella – 11.1 million followers – $14,000 (£10,800) per post
5. Nash Grier – 10.2 million followers – $13,000 (£10,000) per post
6. Chiara Ferragni – 9.7 million followers – $12,000 (£9,200) per post
7. Julie Sarinara – 4.6 million followers – $10,000 (£7, 700) per post
8. Aimee Song – 4.6 million followers – $9,000 (£6,900) per post
9. Danielle Bernstein – 1.7 million followers – $7,000 (£5,400) per post
10. Liz Eswein – 1.3 million followers – $6,000 (£4,600) per post
Instagram said it does not comment on third party studies, so could not confirm whether the figures are accurate.
It added that it takes transparency seriously and marks adverts that appear on Instagram as “sponsored”.
“Understanding where sponsorships or endorsement deals do or don’t exist is a complex challenge for the industry - online and off - and we are exploring what works best for our community. We encourage everyone in the Instagram community to follow local industry guidelines around transparency with any sponsored content,” the statement said.
Last month Instagram revealed it is trialling a new tool to bring transparency to branded content on the platform, through a new “paid partnership with” tag on posts and stories.
“The tool allows a creator to tag business partner they are working with and provides access to insights for the content created as part of this partnership. We are initially working with a few launch partners with the goal to learn and gather feedback. This is a first step and we hope to roll it out globally to brands and creators in the coming months,” it said.
Mike Bandar, co-founder of HopperHQ.com called Instagram an “incredibly effective marketing tool for brands”.
“In the last couple of years influencers and celebrities have really caught on to the fact that endorsing brands on Instagram pays off and as you can see from our rich lists, there is a serious amount of money to be made,” he said.
“However, it is important that Instagram users are aware their favourite celebs and bloggers are being paid to promote products and services so they can understand when they are being sold to as part of content. The recent introduction of the ‘paid partnership’ label will go some way to ensuring there’s more transparency on the platform.”