More than 42,000 VKontakte content creators earned over 1.6 billion rubles after joining the Russian social network's shops monetization program over the past year, according to a press release received by news outlet Lenta.ru.
Olga Delevski, author of a fashion and style blog on the platform, secured the highest individual income under the referral initiative, earning 33 million rubles from her product recommendations.
The monetization program allows administrators of community pages and individual profile holders to recommend commercial products within published posts and short video clips. Creators receive a percentage commission on every purchase completed by users who click through their published content.
Top earning categories and creator performance
High earnings were recorded across several popular blogging niches beyond fashion. The company press release noted that the most profitable publications came from communities focused on travel, interior design, and automobiles, as well as personal blogs run by individual creators.
Andrey Gostev, chief operating officer of social networks at VK, said the first year of operating the shops format and referral program highlighted major shifts in the influence marketing industry. He explained that content creators are becoming accustomed to result-based payment models, where earnings depend directly on measurable sales outcomes rather than fixed upfront promotional fees.
Gostev added that the program enabled individuals who previously did not consider themselves digital influencers to monetize their online recommendations. Users managing personal profiles without established public communities demonstrated that trust among friends and acquaintances can be successfully converted into financial income.
Social commerce and network features
VKontakte, launched in 2006 and operated by technology group VK, is the most widely used social networking service in Russia. The platform supports diverse content distribution channels, including public interest groups, personal profiles, and Clips, a dedicated short-form video service hosting vertical mobile videos.
Affiliate referral marketing models allow content creators to act as brand advocates without requiring formal corporate sponsorship agreements. Under these performance-based structures, creators generate income whenever followers purchase items linked in their posts, directly aligning creator incentives with e-commerce retail sales.
The announcement follows earlier initiatives by VK to introduce new earning mechanisms for Russian content creators as the social network expands its monetization ecosystem to maintain platform engagement.
