Sperm requests and 20-hour weeks: how cats can get famous on Instagram – and make their owners some money
One cat goes hiking, another loves to swim the Australian waters and one even helps to fight climate change, but all these cats are social media influencers with huge followings
Cat posts are, er, catnip for the internet, and social media is teeming with feeds featuring house cats and their antics. Then there are the outdoorsy types, often called “adventure cats”, whose Instagram feeds show them climbing mountains, swaggering through the wilderness, swimming in the sea, riding on their humans’ boats and even flying in aeroplanes.
Accounts with 500,000 followers may average US$5,000 to US$6,000 per post
Capturing the athletic feats of these feline action stars requires their owners to keep pace, tagging along while pointing their cameras. STYLE spoke to a few about the ins and outs of running an adventure cat social media feed.
How much money can you make on your pet’s social media accounts?
The cat owners we spoke to all declined to reveal how much they actually earn from their pets’ social media activity, however, one said it wasn’t enough for them to quit their jobs.
Loni Edwards, founder and managing partner of The Dog Agency, which represents pet influencers, gave us some educated estimates.
Rates vary widely because a number of factors bear on how much your account is worth, including the number of followers, engagement with your audience and the type of content you create. In-feed videos, for instance, are worth more than in-feed photos, and Instagram stories fetch much less because they draw a smaller viewership and disappear after 24 hours.
Owners can spend 15 to 20 hours per week maintaining their pets’ social media accounts
There are myriad other factors, including whether you are getting lots of partnership offers from which to choose, or only a handful, so you take what you can get.