Narcity Media Launches “Boost,” Letting Brands Pay People to Share Posts on Instagram Stories
Montreal, QC — February 12, 2026 — Narcity Media today announced the launch of Boost, a new product on Locals.tv that allows brands to pay real people and creators to share content through Instagram Stories.
The platform turns what has traditionally been a complex, service-heavy influencer process into a standardized, self-serve distribution channel.
Instead of negotiating individual influencer deals or buying impressions through ad platforms, brands can now launch Story distribution campaigns in minutes through a network of more than 2,000 local creators and participants across Narcity and MTLBlog’s city footprint.
“We’ve eliminated the chaos from influencer marketing,” said Chuck Lapointe, CEO of Narcity Media. “Brands upload a post, choose a city, select a package, and launch. Participants opt in and share it on their Instagram Stories. No negotiations. No contracts. Just distribution.”
Positioned Between Paid Social and Influencer Marketing
Boost is designed to sit between Meta Ads and traditional influencer campaigns.
Unlike paid social, distribution happens through real people’s Instagram Stories.
Unlike influencer marketplaces, campaigns are standardized and self-serve, allowing brands to launch distribution campaigns in minutes without negotiating with individual creators.
The model removes many of the operational challenges typically associated with influencer campaigns, including:
- Negotiated creator pricing
- Guaranteed view commitments
- Screenshot-based performance bonuses
Participants are paid fixed rates per verified Story share, with platform trust multipliers rewarding consistent participation.
Built for Local Advertisers
Boost is city-based by design, allowing small businesses and regional brands to activate local Story distribution quickly.
A typical small business campaign includes:
- ~$350 campaign budget
- ~75 Instagram Story shares
- Campaigns launching within hours
Narcity’s owned social pages can also be layered in as premium anchor distribution for larger packages.
Designed for Scalable Economics
The launch follows a strategic simplification of Narcity Media’s previous hybrid creator marketplace model, which proved operationally heavy and difficult to scale.
By standardizing payouts and eliminating manual analytics bonuses, Boost is designed to operate with scalable economics, with modeled net margins in the 35–40% range under balanced supply.
“This isn’t a feature update — it’s a structural shift,” said Lapointe. “We’re turning social distribution into infrastructure.”
Spring 2026 Rollout
Boost is rolling out officially this spring across Narcity and MTLBlog’s major Canadian cities, with density expanding city by city.
Narcity Media operates Narcity and MTLBlog, reaching millions of readers and viewers across North America. Locals.tv is the company’s creator monetization platform.
Media Contact
Chuck Lapointe
CEO, Narcity Media
chuck@narcitymedia.com