Instagram Subscriptions expansion lets users in ten more countries put up paywalls

Instagram Subscriptions is going global. The monetization feature, which resembles similarly-named products on platforms like Twitch, has come to ten additional countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

As subscriptions have emerged as a coveted revenue stream for creators, Instagram has slowly built up its own version of the feature. It started testing Subscriptions in 2022, just a few months after Meta leader Mark Zuckerberg promised to deliver $1 billion of payouts to creators. By July of that year, “tens of thousands of creators here in the U.S.” gained access to Subscriptions, according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri.

As the calendar turned over to 2023, Instagram continued to widen its Subscriptions rollout. That expansion is continuing unabated. “After seeing the value that subscriptions can offer to creators in the US, we’re expanding access to the feature to more creators around the world,” reads an introductory blog post. Instagram users in the countries listed above can expect to gain access to Subscriptions “in the coming weeks.”

The options available through Subscriptions include some launch features and others that have been added more recently. By charging monthly fees that range between $.99 and $99 (reasonable prices like $4.99 are most common), Subscriptions users can offer pay-gated posts, Stories, Reels, and live streams. Exclusive Stories are saved as “Highlights” that subscribers can rewatch later on. Creators can also launch special channels for paying fans.

As Instagram expands access to Subscriptions, it is offering testimonials from creators who have already employed the feature. “My reach is greater amongst my subscribers since my content shows up at the top of their feed, so I have much better engagement with them,” said Egreis Gjergjani of @thestilettomeup. “My approach to Subscriptions is to invest time and effort into building that relationship with those that do sign up. It feels like a group of close friends who genuinely care and support one another. They’re invested in you and they deserve the same.”

Instagram offers informative materials to help users get the most out of Subscriptions. You can access the Instagram Subscriptions Creator Playbook by clicking here.