With the nation being at home and lazing on beanbags more than ever before due to the coronavirus, the battle among TV channels to secure huge audience ratings has never been more fierce.
While the BBC may be winning the contest on the screen, on social media it’s a completely different story.
Having analysed the Instagram profiles of morning presenters who regularly appear on our televisions, we found those featuring on ITV are earning more than thirteen times the amount of money their BBC counterparts are on Instagram.
Our research shows presenters who feature on Good Morning Britain and This Morning can charge an average of £3,613 for a sponsored Instagram post.
In contrast, presenters on BBC news shows can command just £262, with those featuring on Sky capable of charging £122 per post on average.
This Morning’s Holly Willoughby has the potential to earn the most through Instagram out of all of the morning presents across the three channels.
With a staggering 6.8m followers, Holly could earn up to £17,264 per post. That would mean she would only have to be involved in 58 sponsored posts to make more than £1m.
Holly’s co-presenter Phillip Schofield is second and can command more than £8,100 per post with Rochelle Humes - formerly of The Saturdays - in third.
In fact the top ten biggest earners on Instagram are all ITV presenters including Piers Morgan, Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway.
Top Instagram Earners Of Morning TV
Rank |
Morning TV Presenter |
TV channel |
Instagram followers |
Earnings/Post |
1 |
Holly Willoughby |
ITV |
6,800,000 |
£17,264 |
2 |
Phillip Schofield |
ITV |
3,200,000 |
£8,186 |
3 |
Rochelle Humes |
ITV |
2,000,000 |
£5,068 |
4 |
Ruth Langsford |
ITV |
931,000 |
£3,520 |
5 |
Kate Garraway |
ITV |
926,000 |
£3,512 |
6 |
Piers Morgan |
ITV |
1,200,000 |
£3,124 |
7 |
Alison Hammond |
ITV |
705,000 |
£2,670 |
8 |
Eamonn Holmes |
ITV |
672,000 |
£2,545 |
9 |
Dermot O’Leary |
ITV |
630,000 |
£2,386 |
10 |
Susanna Reid |
ITV |
515,000 |
£1,955 |
11 |
Ben Shephard |
ITV |
407,000 |
£1,541 |
12 |
Lorraine Kelly |
ITV |
365,000 |
£1,382 |
13 |
Charlotte Hawkins |
ITV |
201,000 |
£764 |
14 |
Dan Walker |
BBC |
143,000 |
£543 |
15 |
Louise Minchin |
BBC |
62,400 |
£323 |
16 |
Kay Burley |
Sky |
29,700 |
£192 |
17 |
Ranvir Singh |
ITV |
21,800 |
£174 |
18 |
Mike Bushell |
BBC |
21,300 |
£162 |
19 |
Sally Nugent |
BBC |
19,100 |
£157 |
20 |
Stephen Dixon |
Sky |
16,300 |
£132 |
21 |
Ben Thompson |
BBC |
14,500 |
£125 |
22 |
Adil Ray |
ITV |
13,000 |
£107 |
23 |
Gillian Joseph |
Sky |
2,684 |
£41 |
Dan Walker of the BBC is the highest placed presenter who doesn’t work for ITV. He ranks 14th and has the potential to earn £543 per post on Instagram.
Kay Burley is Sky’s highest placed presenter in 16th.
While Alison Hammond only ranks seventh compared to her TV colleagues, she fairs far better against the contestants she previously shared the Big Brother house with.
Last month we analysed over 300 Instagram profiles of past contestants on Big Brother and found that only Welsh reality star Lateysha Grace had the potential to earn more through Instagram than Alison.
With more than 1 million followers, Lateysha, who appeared in series 17 of Big Brother, can earn up to an eye-watering £3,110 per Instagram post.
Behind Alison in third was ‘Ex on the Beach’ star Chanelle McCleary, with Alex Cannon in fourth.
The full list of the big and not so big earners on Instagram following their appearance on the show can be found below:
Methodology
We looked at all of the presenters who regularly appear on weekday morning news shows across ITV, the BBC and Sky and used Influencer Marketing Hub’s “Instagram Money Calculator” to predict estimated earnings, taking the highest value provided. Earnings are based on follower count and engagement rate on existing posts.
