This year’s Love Island contestants are set to gain 800,000 followers each in just six weeks
This year’s new cast of Love Island contestants are set to become Instagram royalty by the end of the summer, with new analysis revealing that each original islander can expect more than 800,000 new followers on the platform during the time the show is on air.
The study by beauty experts Cosmetify compared this year’s contestants for the hit ITV2 show with the average following of the contestants from the last summer series, which took place in 2019.
On average, contestants who were in the villa from the first day gained a massive 812,392 new followers during their time on the show – equivalent to 22,431 new followers each day.
Of this year’s contestants, Shannon Singh has the largest Instagram presence with 157,000 followers, and it is estimated that she can already make more than £500 from a sponsored Instagram post.
However once her time on the Island is up, the data reveals she could have around one million Instagram followers, and be able to charge thousands per post as other former islanders are now able to do.
Taking into account those who entered the villa in 2019 once the show had started, such as Molly-Mae Hague, or Maura Higgins, the average number of new followers for the whole group of islanders was 470,470, or 15,128 new followers per day.
In 2019, Amber Gill, who won alongside Greg O’Shea, saw a 1,784% increase in following during her time in the villa – a huge 1.5 million new followers, third behind Molly Mae’s two million new fans, and Tommy Fury’s 1.8 million new followers.
This year, contestants whose profile is lower, such as Faye Winter (2,315 Instagram followers) or Chloe Burrows (3,245) can take inspiration from Chris Taylor, who entered on day 37 of the 2019 series with just 4,933 followers, and saw his Instagram follower count increase by 4,461% to 225,000.
That was the biggest percentage increase for any contestant on the show, ahead of Ovie Soko in second, whose following jumped by 3,188%, from 36,500 to 1,200,000.
Commenting on the study, a spokesperson for Cosmetify said: “A massive increase in Instagram followers can be just the tip of the iceberg for popular Love Island contestants. As we have seen from previous series, brand partnerships, book deals and even dedicated TV shows all possible for Islanders who do well.”