Being famous, in and of itself, is a whole business. Much more so in these times, in which thanks to technology, and the enormous democratization of social networks, the idol does not have to leave the screen of his followers’ device at any time. New companies have even emerged that allow ‘influencers’ and artists of all stripes to ‘take a slice’ of custom videos in which they share vital advice or, simply, congratulate the birthday of the Internet user on duty. And, in addition, in some cases without the need for it to scratch the pocket too much.
The phenomenon exploded in the United States in 2018 and, for a few months, it has been making its way in Spain thanks to the work of different platforms that are directly dedicated to offering the services of famous Spaniards. And there are all kinds. From journalists like Manolo Lamaeven TV shows like Rappel. You can even access ex-smugglers, like Laureano Oubiñaor the son of Pablo Escobar, Juan Pablo Escobar.
“Good morning Omar. I am Laureano Oubiña Piñeiro. I wish you a happy birthday, and many more to come. Good luck and happiness”, says Oubiña looking at the camera in one of the videos shared as an example by the Mocítox website, a business dedicated, like so many others, to offering personalized videos of certain ‘inluencers’ to all those who are willing to pay for them. In the case of the former Galician smuggler, each video has a price of 35 euros.
It is more expensive to get a personalized video of Juan Pablo Escobar. The son of a well-known Colombian drug trafficker offers his services on the American video platform Cameo, one of the most reputable and veteran. Get the writer to dedicate a video to you it costs 99 euros. In case you are a business, and you want the video for promotional purposes, the price reaches 10,000 euros and going up.
how business works
As Álvaro Churruca, general manager of the Memmo video company in Spain, explained a few months ago to ABC, cases in which a celebrity is present on various platforms offering to make personalized recordings are not uncommon. When the user contracts the service, he can give the ‘influencer’ some guidelines about the type of content he wants, which It can range from a birthday greeting to a joke, advice, support or motivational message..
What celebrities charge varies depending on what they request, as does the commission that the page through which they hire them takes. The price of the video can also vary if, for example, the creator sings or makes the recording in less than 24 hours.
Churruca, in turn, explained that, in many cases, celebrities do not offer themselves on these platforms with the main objective of earning money. Many simply seek to exploit an alternative medium with which to retain their followers.