The True Cost of Your Attention: How Much Is Your Instagram Scroll Worth?

🕰️ Imagine You’re scrolling through Instagram.

In the last 60 seconds, you’ve probably seen:
✅ A friend’s vacation photo.
✅ A viral meme.
✅ A few product ads disguised as “organic/UGC” posts.
✅ An influencer’s subtle brand collaboration.

📱 Now, here’s a question:
How much money did Instagram just make off your attention?
Hint: Your time is more valuable than you think.

📊 The Attention Economy: Instagram’s $50 Billion Empire

Instagram isn’t just a photo-sharing app—it’s a $50 billion ad machine. Brands fight for users' attention, and every second you spend scrolling is generating revenue.

💡 How Instagram Makes Money Off Users

Instagram earns through advertisers who bid for your attention.
The average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) on Instagram varies between ₹60–₹150 in India
That means brands pay up to ₹0.10 just to make you SEE their ad.

Now, think about how many ads you see per minute. 3? 5? Even if you ignore them, brands still pay Instagram. So much so that on an average, 💰 Every 10 minutes you spend scrolling could generate ₹1–₹1.5 in ad revenue for Instagram.

👀 But wait… how much of that is actually shared with the content creators, for whom we come to the app in the first place?

🎯 Who Gets Paid for Your Time & Attention?

Let’s break down where the money goes when an advertiser pays ₹100 to Instagram:

Influencers (only if it's a sponsored post) : ₹20–₹30
Ad Agencies & Intermediaries (only if it's a sponsored post) : ₹10–₹20
Instagram (Meta) : ₹50–₹100

That’s right. If you’re just a regular user posting photos, Instagram profits from your attention, but you get nothing.

🧐 Are You watching Ads… or Are Ads Watching You, the Hidden Truth?

You might have felt like Instagram reading your mind? You mention “new sneakers” in a conversation, and suddenly, your feed is flooded with Sneaker ads.

Here’s what’s happening:
✅ Instagram’s AI tracks every move you make—likes, comments, follows, even pause time on a post.
✅ It builds a profile on your interests and shows ads that “predict” what you’ll buy.
✅ Brands pay premium rates for these hyper-targeted placements.

The Bottom Line: Your attention and Influence has a price — and you are sharing It for Free!

Right now, Instagram is making billions from users' time, but users don’t get a single rupee directly.

The real question is: What are you going to do about it?
Your content does influence your network more than ads — why not earn from it?

🚀 Katha Ignite is here to change the game and trying to users to get a piece of revenue.

🚀 What If Users Got Paid for the Attention they generate?

Imagine a world where instead of Instagram keeping all the ad revenue, active users and creators get a better share for other users interacting with content.

📢 Example:
Instead, brands can spend ₹5 lakh on Instagram Ads that get cluttered in the algorithm. They can empower 100s of small creators or 1000s of users who actually talk to their audience, driving 5-10x the engagement.

Katha IGNITE is exactly envisioning this. Here’s how this would look in practice:

✅ Instead of brands just relying on Instagram’s algorithms, they can leverage everyday people (and smaller content creators) to share branded content.
✅ Instead of hyper-targeted placements, brands can reward people for sharing ads with their trusted networks and also increase loyalty.
✅ Instead of Instagram taking all the money for usage, these creators actually get paid for the influence they already have.

Want to be part of this revolution of giving more money (and control) to users? Let’s Talk.