t is still too early to have sufficient data on the profitability for content creators on the LensFrens and FriendTech platforms, but it is possible to conduct an initial analysis. The question we are going to try to answer is which platform is more profitable for content creators.
I must first issue a disclaimer that I am an investor in Superfluid. However, I also have exposure with FriendTech. Nevertheless, my fundamental goal is to remain objective and not cheat myself.
Let's refine the question
**Which platform will be more profitable for an influencer?**
We could question the choice of 'influencer' as the main role on the platform. Another role could be 'content creator.' However, I understand these platforms within the attention economy, and I believe their main value proposition is fundamentally about gaining access to the attention or time of someone who is relevant to us. These platforms have really focused on those who attract more interest, which are those capable of persuading us to pay for access to their private groups.
If that is the main value proposition, one of the key determinants of success for these platforms will be the compensation they offer to their influencers. Another important aspect we will analyze in other article is the value proposition for investors, who might play the role of financing these influencers.
To do this, we will try to gather real data on the best case scenario for each platform and what we would consider an average case for this platform. We still don't know the impact that each type of influencer will have, but we could replicate models where 20% of the influencers earn 80% of the profits, or alternatively, break these models in economies with a more 'middle class' of influencers
ALFAFRENS (20.000 - 700 Dollars Monthly)
The AlfaFrens model is based on subscriptions, a model that seems to offer a more sustainable system at least in the medium term. It remains to be seen how many of these subscriptions are maintained in the long run, but the revenue is much more predictable for the influencer.
This predictability is a positive aspect. Generally, we are willing to accept lower earnings if they are more secure than higher, unpredictable income. Therefore, in this respect, AlfaFrens offers a positive point in that aspect.
The top subscriber of ALFAFRENs has 2,000 subscribers, and for each subscriber, they earn 1,500 DEGENs. This amount would amount to 3 million DEGENs per month. However, the influencer only earns 30% of these revenues, which limits them to 900,000 DEGENs. With the exchange rate of DEGEN at $0.023, we are talking about $20,700 per month.
A subscriber that we could call 'middle class' might have 200 subscribers, each paying a fee of 500 DEGENs, which would imply 100,000 DEGENs per month. Applying the 30% share, this would amount to 30,000 DEGENs. With the exchange rate of $0.023, we are talking about $690 per month
FRIENDTECH (46.000 - 7,5 Dollars Monthly )
The FRIENDTECH model is much more variable, and therefore the calculations we are going to make are much more debatable, since the scenarios are really much more diverse. Ultimately, the income is determined by the trading that occurs with the keys to the private group.
In the case of Friendtech, we have selected the user we found with the highest performance. This is not necessarily the one at the top of their user ranking.
This influencer would have earned 233 Ethereums, which today would amount to about $700,000. However, it might be more accurate to calculate this amount using an average price of Ethereum, given that these figures are returns from August 2023. We could assume an average price of $2,000, which would estimate the earnings at $466,000. Dividing this by 10 months, we would be talking about $46,600 per month. However, it should be noted that the income was mainly concentrated in the first months of high activity on FriendTech and then significantly decreased.
In the case of FriendTech, a middle-class influencer would not have as many subscribers, since the increase in the price of the key makes it unfeasible. This really leads FriendTech's product to have a higher degree of exclusivity. In this sense, we choose another profile that could fit with this middle-class profile on FriendTech.
To compare it with one similar to AlphaFrens, we have selected two that have a key worth $100, which implies around 20 to 30 subscribers. In this case, their members would be paying slightly more than in AlphaFrens, since the highest subscription currently does not exceed $50.
In this case, this influencer would have earned about $3,360, which would amount to approximately $330 per
In this case, the earnings were primarily accumulated in the first months of starting on the application.
However, this really is a sample that may not be very significant. To try to take it to theory, how many trades would the key of an influencer worth $100 need to have in order to earn about 300 euros per month? If each transaction earns $1.5, we would be talking about 200 trades, something that seems unlikely for a room of 20 people. Perhaps we could expect that 10% of the people in the group would change, which at most might lead to about 5 transactions, giving the influencer a profitability of $7.5.
In a room of a top influencer that could be valued at 5,000 euros and that might have 100 transactions due to much more speculation, we would be talking about 7,500 dollars.
CONCLUSIONS
It's difficult to draw conclusions because the sample is very biased. We could conclude that FriendTech might have a premium associated also with the uncertainty about the income compared to AlfaFrens if there are a lot of trading with the Keys. However, it would be important to consider that the majority of FriendTech's income is very concentrated at specific times of the application's use, and that by removing those moments from the sample, the compensation would be much lower.
Income on AlfaFrens could increase significantly since we have not yet reached the maximum number of subscriptions that these groups can have. The fact that the price is not increased provides much more room to continue attracting more subscribers. This, on the other hand, diminishes the value proposition of exclusivity offered by Friend Tech. In this sense, the value propositions of the two projects differ somewhat.
Personally, I have more profitability as a lower-class influencer on ALFAFRENS than on FRIENDTECH.
We hope to add more analysis and welcome any feedback on this analysis and real experiences.