₹4 crore a year for ‘exclusive’ content: Indian influencers strike gold with paid Instagram subscription

Subhashree Sahu, a well-known digital content creator from Odisha, had her Instagram account taken down. Before this, her earnings from paid subscriptions were humongous. Take a look.

Subhashree Sahu has built a large following across multiple social media platforms. Her content includes lifestyle vlogs, dance videos and short-form reels.

She commands a combined audience exceeding millions of followers. This specifically spans Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and X.

Before her Instagram account was taken down, her following was over 1.3 million. She reportedly had nearly 6,000 premium subscribers paying monthly fees.

These subscribers paid ₹399 monthly for premium access. This translated to substantial monthly earnings from subscriptions alone.

Estimates suggest she earned around ₹23 lakh monthly from this source. This amounts to roughly ₹2.7 crore annually, before deductions.

On YouTube, her channel "Subhashree Sahu vlogs" shows different figures. It currently has around 1,42,000 subscribers.

The channel has accumulated 130 videos over two years. Total video views across the channel currently exceed 14.68 million, according to vidIQ.

Estimated monthly YouTube earnings are around $394, according to available data. This converts to roughly ₹37,000 monthly from YouTube.

Her YouTube channel also offers paid membership tiers to subscribers. These range from ₹119 monthly for basic access. Higher tiers include ₹599, ₹799 and ₹1,599 monthly options. The number of her paid subscribers on YouTube is not publicly available.

Indian influencers strike gold

Aditi Mistry has 2,377 subscribers currently. At ₹290 monthly, her estimated earnings reach around ₹6.89 lakh.

Muskan Karia has 5,154 subscribers paying ₹390 monthly each. This translates to estimated earnings of around ₹20.1 lakh monthly.

Sofia Ansari, who goes by sofia9_official, has 6,091 subscribers. At ₹180 monthly, her estimated earnings reach nearly ₹11 lakh.

Bollywood actress Neha Sharma has built a subscriber base of 6,967 people. At a monthly charge of ₹290, her estimated earnings are roughly ₹20.2 lakh.

Rhiya Ahir became viral for being the girl who stopped a police van in Mumbai during student protests earlier in July. She has the largest subscriber count among this group, at 10,900. Despite her lower ₹140 monthly price, her estimated earnings still reach around ₹15.26 lakh.

Fitgirl_08, operated by Soniya Singh Khatri, has 9,071 subscribers paying ₹390 monthly. This generates the highest estimated earnings here, around ₹35.4 lakh every month. That’s ₹4.2 crore a year.

It's worth noting that these figures reflect gross estimates. The actual numbers are likely to be different. Also, the figures don't account for Instagram's platform fees on subscriptions. Actual take-home earnings for these creators would be lower after such deductions.

What do paid subscribers get?

Paid subscriptions can offer more provocative material than public profiles. Paid Instagram subscriptions often feature suggestive glamour content unavailable on creators’ public feeds. Creators may share revealing outfits, provocative dances, bedroom-style vlogs and flirtatious livestreams with subscribers.

Paid access can also create a sense of intimacy through personal interactions and shoutouts. Some creators allegedly use subscriptions as teasers before directing dedicated fans toward external premium platforms, such as OnlyFans.