User verification brought Instagram more than $15 million

Earlier this year, when everyone was raving about Twitter’s $8 blue checkmark, Instagram decided it was a feature worth copying.

Instagram’s own program, called Meta Verified, was launched in March and was able to instantly triple and then quadruple the income of the Instagram app in the App Store.

AppFigures estimates that prior to the launch of the verification program, the Instagram app in the App Store generated about $1.5 million in net revenue per month for Meta. And that’s net income, which is what Meta gets after Apple takes its cut.

This income came from the sale of badges, as well as from an Instagram pilot program that allowed users to follow creators. Just like on Twitter.

User verification, which is almost a carbon copy of Twitter, launched in the US in April for $14.99/mo when purchased from the app, and revenues skyrocketed immediately.

Instagram ended March with $4.4 million in net revenue, according to App Intelligence. Considering the growth in pre-verification revenue, it can be assumed that verification provided about $2.5 million of this amount.

The total rose to $6.4 million in April and $7 million in May. Revenue dropped slightly in June, down 4% to $6.8 million. Excluding badges and subscriptions, analysts estimate that verifications have generated $16.8 million in net App Store revenue for Instagram since launching in April. The total app revenue for these 4 months was $24.6 million.

It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We don’t think Twitter cares about Instagram copying the verification, but apparently Threads, Instagram’s copy of all Twitter that launched a few days ago, angered Elon Musk.

Verifications are moving from Instagram to Threads, so you can expect revenue to grow even faster in July.