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A TikTok influencer cat with 2 million followers earns up to $60,000 for a sponsored video package
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A TikTok influencer cat with 2 million followers earns up to $60,000 for a sponsored video package

JJ Yosh and his cat Simon are an Instagram and TikTok influencer team
  • Adventure and travel influencer JJ Yosh and his cat Simon have 2.8 million followers across Instagram and TikTok.
  • The duo become popular on social media after posting photos and videos of their hiking trips in Colorado and other outdoor destinations.
  • Yosh and Simon often sell sponsored content on their social channels as a package, attracting five-figure deals with brands, Yosh said.
  • The pair have worked with a variety of companies, including Procter & Gamble, Intuit, and Petco.
  • Click here for more BI Prime stories.

When JJ Yosh adopted his cat Simon in 2016, he regretted it at first.

"I took Simon very reluctantly because I was traveling a lot and I really didn't think I could have a pet," Yosh said. "He wouldn't let me get near him. He was very vocal and would not stop meowing."

But eventually the cat became more comfortable in his new home and the pair began bonding by going on hikes together.

"We live in the mountains of Colorado," Yosh said. "I wanted to get him used to the outdoors, so I started taking him on supervised hikes."

Yosh began posting photos and videos of their expeditions in 2016 and the unconventional adventurer pair became popular on social media. Yosh had joined Instagram in 2014 as a way to promote his work in commercial modeling and acting, but his account saw a jump in followers once Simon showed up.

"When I got Simon, everything kind of took off from there," Yosh said, adding that he hadn't originally intended for Simon to become an internet celebrity cat. "Adventure cats" have become popular on platforms like Instagram, with the hashtag #adventurecat appearing in hundreds of thousands of posts on the app.

Yosh now runs a full-time business around the influencer pair's adventures, filming and photographing camping trips where they swim, kayak, and climb up rocks in settings like Lake Tahoe and the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Their unique content attracts a wide range of sponsors who cater to both human and feline customers. Procter & Gamble, Petco, Intuit, Planters, PetSafe, and Samuel Adams brewery are just a few of the companies that have hired either one or both of the pair to promote their products.

The pair have a combined 2.8 million followers across their Instagram and TikTok accounts. Their largest account is Simon's @backpackingkitty channel on TikTok. Yosh's manager often sells Yosh and Simon as a combo package. If they want to utilize both creators, they pay for Yosh's content creation and then separate talent fees for him and Simon.

A single sponsored photo on Instagram with no brand exclusivity and limited usage starts at around $5,000, Yosh said. If a brand wants to be the exclusive advertiser for a particular category on Yosh or Simon's channels, the price jumps to between $10,000 and $50,000 depending on the terms of the deal, he said. A sponsored video that involves shooting and production starts at around $10,000, but can go up to $60,000 depending on the level of effort involved.

Yosh has a background in media production and a passion for the outdoors

Before taking off on social media, Yosh worked as a commercial model and actor. He paid for his outdoor adventures by drawing in sponsors who would cover the cost of his startup film and documentary production company, Higher Earth Entertainment.

Yosh now manages a five-person production studio with three full-time assistants and two part-time employees, creating commercial content that airs on and off social media.

"In college, I really learned that media was a good tool to be able to get people in the outdoors if you can't take them out on actual physical trips," he said. "It wasn't until 2014 that I started to actually utilize social media as a way to showcase my media and get brands involved. It was initially through Twitter, and then right around 2016 we were focusing more on Instagram."

Yosh switched to focusing on being a social-media influencer in 2018 when it became more lucrative than commercial modeling and acting.

"The thing about being a content creator and having your own distribution is you're carrying way more hats," he said. "You're not only talent in your photos and your videos - you're also producing, editing, and creating. You're going to get paid a lot more than you would just from a talent fee."

Yosh's biggest social-media following lives on TikTok, but he's hoping to draw some of those fans to YouTube

Yosh began posting videos of himself and Simon on TikTok in the summer of 2019 and he now has more followers there than on any other platform. Simon's TikTok account, @backpackingkitty, took off in just six months, with 2.1 million followers and over 45 million likes to date.

Simon often participates in livestreams on TikTok, one of the built-in features of the app that helps creators make money from their content. During a livestream, TikTok users can send a creator virtual "gifts" using a TikTok-specific currency called "coins." Creators can then convert these "gifts" into "diamonds," and eventually cash them out as real dollars.

Yosh said he earns very little money from Simon's livestreams - enough to buy lunch for the day - but the live platform offers an easy way for the cat to engage with his audience.

"We also utilize TikTok lives to help move our audience to our other platforms because we're getting into YouTube now," he said. "Our audience is very hungry for knowledge on how Simon has become the way he is. Where do I get his clothes? How do I feed him? How do I train him? They're looking at me as kind of a cat expert, so we're going to be creating a cat series now on YouTube which we're starting next week."

Simon eats well - smoked salmon and Ahi (yellowfin) tuna, Yosh said.

"How else am I going to reward him for what he's doing?" Yosh said. "He's treated really well. I obviously want to give him the best life that he can have."

For more on how influencers and brands are interacting on TikTok, check out these other Business Insider Prime posts:

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