A Bank of America (BoFA) research note released on Tuesday suggests that Meta’s brand-new Verified subscription service could have nearly 12 million customers by 2024.
Over the weekend, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made an Instagram post about the subscription service, pitching it as a way to improve “authenticity and security across our services.” A verification badge, identity monitoring tools, and other features are included in the service, which costs $11.99 per month. In Australia and New Zealand, it is currently undergoing testing.
According to the BoFA analysts, Meta’s subscription service is geared more toward creators and influencers than consumers, and businesses will eventually be able to sign up. The analysts wrote that the subscription service could “help them increase visibility and reach with a badge and potentially higher positioning in search and content results,” making it appealing to influencers.
The BoFA analysts estimated that Meta could generate $1.7 billion “in high-margin revenue in 2024” despite the fact that the subscription services cost $11.99 per month.
According to the BoFA research note, “GivenGiven a broader audience reach and bigger revenue opportunity for creators, we believe Meta could outperform the subscriber ramp (as a percent of users) of peer subscription offerings (the service will likely be refined and improved over time).”
Meta’s testing of a new subscription service comes after Twitter’s Blue, which launched in December and costs $8 per month for web users and $11 per month for Apple App Store customers. The Information, a tech news website, reported that that service has nearly 300,000 global subscribers.
Snapchat also offers a subscription service called Snapchat+, which launched in June and costs $3.99 per month. During its most recent earnings report at the end of January, Snap stated that Snapchat+ now has more than 2 million users.