In my essay,
“The End of Following”, I used the character Carrie Bradshaw as an example of an influencer. Imagine if Carrie Bradshaw were real and living in today's Instagram era. She would definitely create IG Stories. But monetizing the IG Stories format is difficult. While it's great for iterating and warming up followers, it's hard to monetize it as a standalone product.
But what if Carrie used IG Stories for storytelling, but the final episode was in a
locked Reel that her followers could buy for, say,
$5? Imagine if 1,000 real fans bought every episode, 5 times a month. That would be
$20,000 per month. This is actually close to the salary that allowed Carrie to live the lifestyle she had on
Sex and the City.
This type of
Reels Series could be in a separate account, with each series unlocked after payment.
So, if Carrie could draw views to TV screens, why couldn't she do the same with paid Reels series?