ROI: Royalty Over Influencers – How Much is the ‘Meghan Effect’ Worth?
The new royals are undoubtedly fashion icons. Both Kate and Meghan are regular features on the social media accounts of major fashion publications from British Vogue to Elle UK and shoppers flock to buy their latest outfit choices, often selling out stocks within days.
But while the duchesses may have a great deal of influence over the fashion world, they don’t claim the coins other ‘influencers’ are entitled to.
We categorised every image of the princesses on the Instagram accounts of Vanity Fair, British Vogue, Elle UK, Grazia UK, Harper’s Bazaar UK and Tatler Magazine. We then figured out the worth of each post to find out just how much sharing a picture of Meghan or Kate is worth to a designer who dresses them.
We identified the most valuable outfits for each princess, the average worth of each post on each platform and how much it would have cost specific designers overall to gain the same amount of coverage.
Overall ‘Influencer’ Worth
| 2019 Stats | Meghan | Kate |
|---|---|---|
| Solo Pictures | 281 | 161 |
| Total Likes | 3,786,577 | 1,656,926 |
| Total Worth | $1,708,982.94 | $695,908.92 |
| Average Post Value | $6,081.79 | $4,322.42 |
Meghan
Meghan had quite a year in 2019. With the birth and christening of baby Archie, her prospective legal battle with the press and, most recently, their royal visit to South Africa.
Meghan was featured in 281 pictures without Kate this year on the six Instagram pages, wearing designers ranging from iconic fashion houses like Givenchy to pieces from J Crew and Reiss.
Meghan’s average worth per post was $6,081.79, almost three times higher than the cost of one Instagram post by a ‘Celebrity’ influencer.
Kate
Though it wasn’t so much Kate’s year in the spotlight in 2019, she still featured in 161 pictures without Meghan throughout the year, continuing to showcase her classic, elegant style.
While the top 10 most-liked pictures of the year were dominated by Meghan and her new family, Kate’s Royal Ascot outfit from July managed to snatch two of the top 10 spots.
Kate’s average worth per post was $4,3222.42, still twice as high as the cost of a single Celebrity post, showing that designers can still hugely benefit from dressing the princess.
Across 466 pictures, Meghan and Kate pulled in:
5,839,669
likes
$2,452,660.98
in potential value
This equates to around $5,263.22 per post
The Value of Each Instagram Account
British Vogue and Vanity Fair pulled in more than half of all the likes in this study, suggesting that posts on their pages hold the most value to brands. But while their average value was miles ahead of their competitors, what’s interesting is that only one account had an average value higher than the predicted worth calculated by Inkifi.
| Instagram Handle (followers) | Princess Pictures | Overall Likes | Overall Worth | Average Value | Inkifi Post Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VanityFair (4,928,544) | 50 | 1,821,861 | $765,181.62 | $15,303.63 | $21,200 |
| BritishVogue (3,598,492) | 45 | 1,503,255 | $631,367.10 | $14,030.38 | $20,300 |
| ElleUK (1,021,972) | 84 | 844,703 | $354,775.26 | $4,223.52 | $5,800 |
| BazaarUK (843,375) | 187 | 1,429,748 | $600,494.16 | $3,211.20 | $4,800 |
| GraziaUK (380,769) | 73 | 152,708 | $64,137.36 | $878.59 | $2,100 |
| TatlerMagazine (188,516) | 27 | 87,394 | $36,705.48 | $1,359.46 | $1,100 |
Top 10 Most Liked Posts of 2019
- 1. The birth of Baby Sussex on British Vogue. This picture reached 131,011 likes for a total worth of $55,024.62
- 2. Baby Sussex meets the grandparents. British Vogue’s post gained 124,087 likes for a value of $52,116.54
- 3. Vanity Fair also shared the post, drawing in 80,264 likes and $33,710.88 in value
- 4. Baby Archie meets Bishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa – 75,980 likes, $31,911.60
- 5. Kate stuns at Royal Ascot, British Vogue followers gave her 71,846 likes for a total of $30,175.32
- 6. Vanity Fair’s initial post on the announcement of baby Archie, this post gained 70,750 likes, $29,715 in value
- 7. British Vogue’s coverage of Archie and the Archbishop got 70,037 likes worth $29,415.54
- 8. British Vogue’s post on the arrival of baby Sussex collected 67,438 likes worth $28,323.96
- 9. Another picture of Kate at the Royal Ascot from Vanity Fair drawing in 66,971 likes, $28,127.82’s worth of interaction
- 10. The christening of Archibald Windsor is the 10th most-liked pic with 66,095, a total of $27,759.90 worth of exposure
Top 10 Most Liked Posts of 2019: Summary
| Handle | Image | Total Likes | Total Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BritishVogue | Baby Archie | 131,011 | $55,024.62 |
| 2 | BritishVogue | Meeting the Royal Grandparents | 124,087 | $52,116.54 |
| 2 | VanityFair | Meeting the Royal Grandparents | 80,264 | $33,710.88 |
| 4 | Vanity Fair | Archie and the Archbishop | 75,980 | $31,911.60 |
| 5 | British Vogue | Royal Ascot | 71,846 | $30,175.32 |
| 6 | Vanity Fair | Baby Archie | 70,750 | $29,715 |
| 7 | BritishVogue | Archie and the Archbishop | 70,037 | $29,415.54 |
| 8 | BritishVogue | Archie Announcement | 67,438 | $28,323.96 |
| 9 | VanityFair | Royal Ascot | 66,971 | $28,127.82 |
| 10 | BritishVogue | Archie’s Christening | 66,095 | $27,759.90 |
More Popular Looks From Insta This Year
With the most followers, it’s unsurprising that British Vogue and Vanity Fair claimed every spot in the top 10. The birth of baby Archie also heavily influenced the like count on each platform, so we’ve gathered a few of the most-liked images from our four other sources which don’t feature above.
Previous
Next
Top 5 Meghan Outfits of 2019
In her first full year as the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan has had a considerable impact on fashion. She maintains a simple style and has made headlines a number of times for re-wearing outfits in the interest of sustainability.
Previous
Next
Top 5 Kate Outfits of 2019
2019 was still a busy year for the Kate. She carried out her duties as Duchess of Cambridge continuing her elegant, effortless style, representing classic British designers like Alexander McQueen and driving shoppers to high street chains like LK Bennett.
Previous
Next
Top 20 Mentioned Designers and Their Collective Worth
Where designers were mentioned or identified on any one Instagram account, we’ve collected all posts including the outfits and calculated the total worth of their coverage. Many of the top 20 are household names and luxury designers, but Meghan and Kate drew a lot of attention to other, smaller brands which is likely to have even more of a significant effect.
| Rank | Designer | Overall Likes | Overall Worth | Favoured By |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wales Bonner | 657,093 | $275,979.06 | Meghan |
| 2 | Club Monaco | 265,849 | $191,401.56 | Meghan |
| 3 | Alexander McQueen | 278,766 | $117,081.72 | Kate |
| 4 | Michael Kors | 180,299 | $75,725.58 | Kate |
| 5 | Jason Wu | 157,689 | $66,229.38 | Meghan |
| 6 | Erdem | 120,878 | $50,768.76 | Both |
| 7 | Aquazurra | 119,825 | $50,326.50 | Meghan |
| 8 | Givenchy | 117,995 | $49,557.90 | Meghan |
| 9 | Veronica Beard | 103,744 | $43,572.48 | Meghan |
| 10 | Oscar de la Renta | 102,275 | $42,955.50 | Both |
| 11 | Mayamiko | 94,241 | £39,581.22 | Meghan |
| 12 | Catherina Walker | 93,780 | $39,387.60 | Kate |
| 13 | Victoria Beckham | 88,991 | $37,376.22 | Meghan |
| 14 | Carolina Herrera | 66,077 | $27,752.34 | Meghan |
| 15 | J Crew | 60,956 | $25,601.52 | Meghan |
| 16 | Maheen Khan | 57,864 | $24,302.88 | Kate |
| 17 | Suzannah Fashion | 52,079 | $21,873.18 | Kate |
| 18 | Amanda Wakeley | 49,742 | $20,891.64 | Meghan |
| 19 | Roland Mouret | 46,617 | $19,579.14 | Meghan |
| 20 | Gucci | 46,183 | $19,396.86 | Kate |
Methodology
We picked the Instagram accounts of six fashion publications with varying follower levels and gathered information on every post including Kate, Meghan or both from 2019 up to October 21st, recording likes and designers tagged. Where designers weren’t tagged in the post, we added the name using tags from the other publications to make the list more comprehensive. Where the designer wasn’t identified at all, we left the record blank.
The accounts we analysed were:
- @VanityFair (4,928,544 followers)
- @BritishVogue (3,598,492 followers)
- @ElleUK (1,021,972 followers)
- @BazaarUK (843,375 followers)
- @GraziaUK (380,769 followers)
- @TatlerMagazine (188,516 followers)
From here, we were able to identify the most popular and most valuable outfits and the overall worth of some of the royals’ most-loved designers, such as Alexander McQueen, Oscar de la Renta and Erdem.
To find the value of each post, we needed to find the value of a like. We chose to use 1 like=1 follower as it’s unlikely that any Instagram post will be liked by more people than the number following the account. The Instagram post worth calculator by Inkifi identifies the value of a follower as $0.42. We multiplied this number by the number of likes on each picture on October 21st to find the hypothetical value of each post.
We also used Emarketer‘s influencer rates to compare the value of dressing Meghan or Kate with a collaboration with an influencer of equal value.
Emarketer influencer rates for one Instagram post:
- Nano (500-5k followers) – $100
- Micro (5k-30k followers) – $172
- Power (30k-500k followers) – $507
- Celebrity (500k+ followers) – $2,085