50,000 euros for a single post—why this influencer is suing anyway

Here's what it's all about

• Influencer Nic Kaufmann earns up to 50,000 euros per promotional post and earned more than one million in 2022. He emphasizes that his success is based on hard and consistent work.
• The intense pressure to perform and succeed in the influencer industry takes a toll on many creators. A psychologist reports that anxiety disorders, depression, and burnout are common in this field.
• Kaufmann used to be bullied and struggled with loneliness after moving to Germany. After nearly suffering from burnout, therapy and healthier routines helped him cope better with the pressure.

Summary created with

As a child, Nic Kaufmann had no interest in fashion. At school, he would simply put on whatever T-shirt was on top of his closet. Today, fashion is the 25-year-old’s whole life—he makes a living as an influencer. “You can earn as much as you can dream of,” Kaufmann reveals in the ARD documentary “Money Maker – Nic Kaufmann” (now available in the ARD media library).

For a video post, he can earn “1,000 euros up to 40,000 or 50,000 euros, if the clients are American.” In his best year, 2022, he earned “a little over a million.”

“Nothing comes for free,” the content creator emphasizes: “It’s a tough business.” He attributes the fact that he now collaborates with luxury brands like Hugo Boss, Dior, and Prada to hard and consistent work. ““What I don’t like is when someone says, ‘He only has this and that because he’s good-looking.’ I feel like that downplays my achievements compared to the effort I’ve put in,” he says in Susan Penack’s ARD documentary, dispelling the misconception that influencers don’t actually work hard.

Psychologist on the influencer industry: “Depression and burnout are very common”

Elias Jessen, a psychologist who works with influencers, also speaks about the pressure in the industry. “What I hear most often from content creators is this pressure to meet metrics—they feel they don’t have the autonomy to decide for themselves whether their content will be viewed,” the expert explains. “Anxiety disorders, depression, and burnout are very common.”

Nic Kaufmann has also been through some tough times. He was bullied in school: “There were the ‘cool’ kids and the others, and I ended up at the very bottom with the kids who didn’t matter.” When he finally left his home country of Singapore at age 17 and took a chance on a fresh start in Germany, he was plagued by loneliness.

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Then he gave social media a try—and really got into Instagram and TikTok in particular. “After a few months, it really took off,” he recalls. On one occasion, his follower count jumped from 80,000 to 400,000 within 48 hours.

But that didn’t happen without a lot of work: coming up with ideas, spotting trends, creating posts. “I really had to learn the hard way that I needed to take breaks,” Kaufmann reflects critically today. “I wanted to do something productive for twelve hours every day. But at some point, I was so exhausted that I lost my motivation.”

It wasn't until he started listening to his body's warning signs and developed healthier routines through therapy that things got better: "That was incredibly helpful for me as a person."