Mark Zuckerberg announced last Wednesday the launch of a test of subscriptions on Instagram. “This will help creators earn more by offering benefits to their most engaged followers like access to exclusive Lives and Stories. I’m excited to keep building tools for creators to make a living doing creative work and to put these tools in more creators’ hands soon,” said Zuckerberg.
1. Trial to begin in the US
US Instagram users will soon be able to subscribe to a small number of creators and influencers to access exclusive content and features. Fans will pay a monthly fee to access subscriber-only content from creators they follow, like exclusive Lives and Stories. Subscribers will also get a purple badge by their username that signals their status to the creator. Price tiers will range from $0.99 to $99.99 per month, and creators can select the price point for their subscriptions, explains The Verge.
In a video posted on Twitter, Adam Mosseri, Instagram CEO, explains that subscriptions are “one of the best ways” for influencers and creators to have a predictable remuneration, in addition to “getting closer” to their followers.
Ten creators are part of the early test, basketball player Sedona Prince, Olympian Jordan Chiles and astrologer Aliza Kelly.
I’m excited to keep building tools for creators to make a living doing creative work and to put these tools in more creators.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, which owns Instagram
2. Introducing Instagram subscriptions
In 2020, Facebook launched Subscriptions, which has helped creators build sustainable businesses powered by the support of their communities. Based on strong creator feedback, we’re ready to now bring this business model to creators on Instagram. With Instagram Subscriptions, creators can develop deeper connections with their most engaged followers and grow their recurring monthly income by giving subscribers access to exclusive content and benefits, all within the same platform where they interact with them already.
Subscriber Lives: Creators can broadcast exclusive Lives to their subscribers, allowing them to engage more deeply.
Subscriber Stories: Creators can create stories just for their subscribers, allowing them to share exclusive content and to use interactive story stickers with their most engaged followers only.
Subscriber Badges: Creators will see a subscriber badge next to comments and messages so they can easily identify their subscribers.
To see subscriptions in action, you can follow and subscribe to these creators:
