- Fanbytes is a UK tech start-up that helps brands to place ads via influencers' Stories on Snapchat.
- Co-founder Timothy Armoo told us teen "Snap influencers" are earning thousands per month through Fanbytes.
- The product launched at the start of this year and now counts Universal, Warner, Sony, and Charlotte Tilbury among its clients.
While the world of Snapchat still remains an enigma for many, it's insanely popular among "Generation Z."
And some "teen influencers"— aged between 13 and 19 years old — are now earning thousands of pounds worth of pocket money from it every month.
Business Insider spoke to 22-year-old Timothy Armoo, one of three founders of Fanbytes, a company which helps brands place video ads via influencers on the image sharing app.
The self-confessed "nerdy" trio came up with idea for their start-up while studying a combination of computer science and mechanical engineering at their respective universities.
They launched their Snapchat-focused product at the start of this year and now count Universal, Warner, Sony, and Charlotte Tilbury among their clients.
So, how much are these 'teen influencers' actually earning?
Fanbytes currently has more than 1,000 influencers subscribed who have audiences of between 10,000 and one million views per Snap. The company has so far worked on over 300 campaigns with brands.
According to Armoo, one of Fanbytes' highest-earning Snap influencers — a 17-year-old — earned more than £5,000 ($7,000) in July 2017 through the platform.
Below is a general indication of how much influencers are making per month, in relation to their number of followers.
- 10K-25K: £400-£1150
- 25K-40K: £1,150-£1,400
- 40K-100K: £1,400-£3,000
- 100K-150K: £3,000 - £4,000
- 150K+: £5,000+
How does it work?
"We realised that lots of brands want to reach audiences on Snap, but people were skipping all of the Snap ads," Armoo said. "So we invented a sandwich ad format, and built technology to insert ads and videos into influencer stories."
They identify potential influencers using something they call a "Fanbytes Score," which was created by his co-founder Ambrose Cooke as part of his dissertation for his degree at Imperial College.
"It's a score from 0 to 100 that measures how influential someone is on Snapchat, taking into account their views, completion rates, and open rates, etc."
The higher your score, the more you earn. In order to sign up to Fanbytes as an influencer you need a score of at least 70.
Armoo added that someone with 100,000 followers could easily earn more than someone else with the same number of followers because they have a higher level of engagement.
Meanwhile, brands first set out their target audience in terms of age, gender, location, and interest. Then, they upload a 10-second Snapchat video or trailer that Fanbyte's software automatically inserts into the relevant influencer stories who then "top and tail the content."
Armoo noted that Fanbytes is not a marketplace that pairs brands with influencers.
Here's an example of a Snapchat ad with Universal.
The influencer can accept or decline the opportunity to endorse the ad, but Armoo said they currently only have a 2% "denial rate" of influencers not allowing the campaigns to run on their Snapchat.
He attributes this low rate in part to the sophistication of their software, which he said is able to seek out the most relevant influencers for each piece of content based on a number of factors.
This is what the Fanbytes' dashboard looks like.
"I believe Snapchat's the new TV format for kids, and to me it's going to be the perfect destination to reach teens," Armoo said.
"We're now the largest place for Snap influencers, a lot of people have ignored Snapchat because they're too lazy to figure out the format."
It no doubt helps that Armoo and his 11-strong team — who have an average age of just 21 — all use Snapchat "religiously" on a personal level.
And he only envisages the app's popularity deepening as older generations join the likes of Facebook and Instagram, thus making them less appealing to the younger population.
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