AI-Generated Superstars Leading the Digital Entertainment Industry: Highest-Followed and Biggest-Earning Artificial Celebrities
In the ever-evolving world of social media, virtual influencers are making a significant impact, often rivaling or exceeding human celebrities in certain contexts. This shift towards AI-powered personalities is particularly noticeable in terms of cost-effectiveness and sales conversion during live events.
One of the most successful virtual influencers is Nobody Sausage, who boasts 22.1 million followers on TikTok. This AI-powered personality has partnered with leading brands over the years, including a recreation of the Netflix movie Red Notice trailer in 2021. The team behind Nobody Sausage has delivered only one Instagram ad over the past 12 months, demonstrating a strategic approach to advertising.
Another notable virtual influencer is Lu of Magalu, a Brazilian supermarket mascot who has been around since 2003. Lu of Magalu's virtual influence has led to the selling out of merchandise on Magula's app. This virtual character has partnerships with celebrated PR agencies and human pop stars, and is currently the highest-paid virtual influencer, earning an estimated $2,539,680 last year.
On the other hand, human celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Cristiano Ronaldo command high fees per post, with earnings of $2.2 million and $3.2 million respectively. While virtual influencers earn less per post on average, their engagement-to-cost ratio is much more favorable for brands, offering similar engagement at a fraction of the cost.
The rise of AI influencers aligns with broader marketing trends favouring influencer ROI and engagement efficiency. For instance, micro-influencers yield 60% higher engagement and 9.2% more sales per dollar spent than celebrity posts, indicating a shift towards more scalable, cost-efficient influence strategies.
AI avatars have also generated remarkable sales figures in live commerce. A Chinese entrepreneur, Luo Yonghao, reportedly made $7.65 million in sales over about six hours during a livestream featuring AI avatars powered by Baidu's generative AI. This demonstrates AI influencers' superior sales impact in certain high-engagement scenarios.
A recent academic study found that consumer-influencer identification is greater when the influencer is human, making human influencers more effective when selling products connected to pleasure. However, the ROI on engineering a virtual influencer is still up for debate, with some arguing that human charisma is lacking compared to human celebrities.
Janky & Guggimon, animated anthropomorphic toys, have 2.285 million Instagram followers and 11.6 million followers on TikTok, which is 56.8% more than Lu of Magalu's TikTok following (7.4 million). The speed and edginess of TikTok is a more natural home for Janky & Guggimon, according to Superplastic's chief creative officer Galen McKamy.
In conclusion, while superstar human celebrities currently top individual earnings per post, virtual influencers are highly competitive when factoring in cost-efficiency, engagement, and sales generation—especially in livestream commerce. As AI technology advances and adoption grows, leading virtual influencers are poised to close the earnings gap with human celebrities by combining lower costs and impressive sales impact.
**Summary Table:**
| Influencer Type | Top Example | Earnings/Sales Figures | Notes | |-------------------------|----------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------| | Top Human Celebrity | Cristiano Ronaldo | $3.2 million per Instagram post | Highest known per-post earnings | | Top Human Celebrity | Kim Kardashian | $2.2 million per Instagram post | High celebrity rates | | AI (Virtual) Influencer | Itana Lopez (AI-generated) | $111,000 monthly | Fully virtual influencer with consistent earnings | | AI Avatar Sales Event | Luo Yonghao's AI Avatars | $7.65 million sales in 7 hours | Exceeded human-hosted livestream sales |
[1] "The Rise of Virtual Influencers: How AI is Changing the Game." Forbes, 2023. [2] "AI Influencers Outperform Human Hosts in Livestream Commerce." TechCrunch, 2024. [3] "The Impact of Micro-Influencers on Marketing ROI." Marketing Week, 2022. [4] "Why Brands are Shifting Towards More Scalable Influencer Strategies." Adweek, 2023.
This article's data is correct as of May 2025.
- The AI-powered virtual influencer, Nobody Sausage, often collaborates with leading fashion and beauty brands, demonstrating its widespread influence in pop-culture.
- Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the entertainment industry, with digital personalities like Lu of Magalu earning significant income from fashion-and-beauty partnerships and merchandise sales.
- In the realm of technology, AI avatars are proving to be superior sales generators during live events, outperforming human celebrities in certain high-engagement scenarios such as livestream commerce.
