Do meme pages make money? How to start, grow and monetize one

Meme pages make money, but almost never from what the platform itself pays. The money comes from sponsored posts, paid shoutouts for other pages and affiliate links, and all of them depend on the same thing: a large audience around a single theme. The sharper the theme, the easier it is to sell.

Where the money comes from

• Sponsored posts. Brands pay for a post or story on a page with their audience. A soccer meme page sells to sports apps, jersey shops, betting brands.
• Shoutouts for other pages. Smaller pages pay to appear in a big page's stories. It's the oldest meme page model.
• Affiliate links. Products tied to the theme, linked in the bio and stories.
• Your own products. Merch, stickers, a paid group, once the audience identifies with the page.

Platform payouts (bonuses, gifts) depend on original content and on your country, and reposted memes usually don't qualify. Don't build the plan on them.

How to start a meme page

1. Pick a theme, not "memes". Soccer, college, work, zodiac, parenting, programming, a city. A page of memes about everything grows slowly and sells nothing to anyone.

2. Name and bio. The name says the theme and is easy to type. The page name generator has meme templates, and the bio generator writes the bio within 150 characters.

3. Professional account. That's what unlocks insights and trial reels.

4. Pace. Meme pages live on frequency: one to three reels a day, plus stories. See how many reels to post a day.

Why reposting other people's memes earns less every year

The classic model was reposting the meme that went viral somewhere else. It's getting weaker for two reasons:

• Instagram started favoring the original. In 2024 the platform said that when it finds the same content reposted, it tends to recommend the original instead of the copy. Pages that only repost lose reach to whoever made it.
• Another app's watermark counts against you. A video downloaded from TikTok with its mark is a clear sign it isn't yours.

What works now is memes made by the page: the trending format, with your text, your theme and your edit. More work, and it's what gets the page recommended.

What makes a meme get recommended

1. Understood in one second. If it needs explaining, it isn't a meme.
2. Relatability. "This is so me" drives shares, and shares spread content the most.
3. Readable on-screen text. Big, short, centered.
4. The trending format, with your theme. The trending audio or template, adapted to the page's audience.

When you have more than one page

Many meme pages become a network: one per theme. The usual caution applies: don't post the same file on all of them, because that's how several accounts go down at once. Each page should get its own version of the video. On DevX Viral you schedule the day for every page at once, with a different version on each. See multi-page posting.

A meme page is one of the most common kinds of faceless account: it grows without showing anyone's face.

Frequently asked questions

Do meme pages make money on Instagram? Yes, through sponsored posts, paid shoutouts, affiliate links and their own products. The platform's own payouts rarely pay for reposted memes.

How many followers does a meme page need to make money? There's no fixed number. Brands look more at the theme and engagement than the total: a mid-size page with a clear theme sells more than a big page of generic memes.

Can I repost memes from other pages? You can, but it earns less and less: Instagram tends to recommend the original instead of the copy. Memes made by the page, in the trending format, grow more.