Earlier this year, when everyone was dunking on Twitter's $8 blue checkmark, Instagram decided it was a feature worth copying.
Instagram's own program, called Meta Verified, rolled out in March and has managed to instantly triple, and later, quadruple, Instagram's in-app revenue from the App Store.
Before verifications launched, Instagram's app was earning Meta around $1.5M of net revenue per month from the App Store, according to our estimates. And that's net, which means what Meta gets to keep after Apple takes its share.
That revenue came from selling badges, and from a pilot program Instagram was running to let users subscribe to creators. Just like Twitter.
Verifications, which are an almost exact copy of Twitter's, launched in the US in April and cost $14.99/mo when purchased from the app, and revenue rose immediately.
Our App Intelligence shows Instagram ended March with $4.4M of net revenue from the App Store. Considering pre-verifications revenue growth, I estimate verifications were responsible for about $2.5M of that total.
The total rose to $6.4M in April and $7M in May. It dipped a bit in June, down 4% to $6.8M, according to our estimates. Not including badges and subscriptions, we estimate verifications alone earned Instagram $16.8M of net revenue from the App Store since launching in April. The app's total revenue during those 4 months was $24.6M.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I don't think Twitter cares about Meta copying verifications, but I know Twitter isn't flattered by Threads, Instagram's simpler basic copy of Twitter, which launched a few days ago.
The reason I bring up Threads is because verifications carry over from Instagram to Threads, so I expect revenue to rise even faster in July.
December saw a curious split: downloads dropped 2% while revenue sat at $1.3B. ChatGPT and TikTok dominated both charts as the mobile industry enters a new maturity phase.
Wall Street bet $2 billion on Polymarket, and downloads surged 1,172% in December. The prediction market banned in 2022 is now where Wall Street looks for signals.