There’s something deeply dystopian about watching a cartoon sausage out-earn you. Not a celebrity playing a sausage. An actual, animated, glitchy-limbed sausage. His name is Nobody Sausage, and he’s got 22.1 million TikTok followers, a brand deal portfolio, and a higher potential Instagram ad rate than most working actors. He’s not real. But his money is.
Welcome to the virtual influencer economy, where AI-generated personalities like Lu of Magalu, Barbie (yes, that Barbie), and two mischievous plastic creatures named Janky & Guggimon are pulling in followers—and sometimes millions of dollars. These aren’t CGI extras in a Pixar movie. They’re stylized avatars with curated lives, optimized to sell products and command loyalty. And it’s working.
Kapwing recently crunched the numbers using follower data and estimated Instagram ad rates. Topping the list? Lu of Magalu, Brazil’s longtime retail mascot turned full-fledged celebrity. She posted 74 sponsored ads in the past year, racking up an estimated $2.5 million. MILLION.
“Lu’s virtual influence began with her humanization,” said Pedro Alvim, Magalu’s social media manager. “Behind every image of her, there is a story.” Lu apparently makes smoothies and lounges by the pool. Must be nice.
AI Influencers Are Raking in Millions—Here’s How They’re Doing It
Nobody Sausage took second place in estimated earnings per post, $33,880 for a single ad, but only posted one all year. That’s $33K for clicking “upload.” Meanwhile, Barbie has 3.5 million followers but rarely cashes in. She doesn’t push products. She is the product. Alexa knows her name, the vlogs are just extra, and brand loyalty has been generational.
Then there’s the TikTok crew. Janky & Guggimon, the animated rabbit-cat duo from Superplastic, lead the platform with 11.6 million followers and a Prime Video deal. “Most [celebrities] aren’t any more real than Guggimon,” says Superplastic founder Paul Budnitz. Fair enough.
But here I am, trying to afford groceries while a dancing hotdog runs the algorithm. Maybe I’m just tired. Maybe I’m bitter. Maybe I miss the time before filters and algorithms, when the only influencer in my life was my older cousin with a driver’s license and bad taste in music. Virtual influencers don’t age, don’t get cancelled, don’t ask for PTO.
That’s what makes them powerful—and maybe a little terrifying.
At the end of the day, these characters are mirrors. What they reflect back is up to us. Right now, it’s a sausage in Gucci boots doing the moonwalk.
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