Russell Brand appears to have earned more than £7m from social media, merchandise and gambling advertising in the months leading up to his prison sentence for rape and sexual assault, with an expert suggesting that he could be teeing up his wife to take over his empire.

Brand, who began his career as a comedian, actor and presenter, has in recent years positioned himself as a podcast host, meditation guru and born-again Christian selling wellness supplements and online subscriptions to his content. 

He has amassed more than 23 million followers across his five social media platforms, with exclusive analysis from influencer marketing analytics firm CORQ, shared with The i Paper, finding how he may have earned £6.75m from subscriptions on one platform alone.

In the months running up to his trial, he also wound up business interests in the UK, including selling his Henley pub for £975,000. Companies House records show he also moved nearly £9m out of his TV and stand-up company last year. An accounting expert told Brand appeared to have paid himself £2.5m in dividends.

The scrutiny of his finances comes as Brand faces hefty bills from his legal trial, with the reporting that he spent about £1m on his lawyers. He may also have to pay damages to victims via civil claims. Earlier this year he also reached a confidential deal to settle a £220,000 claim from his publisher over his failure to write two self-help books in the UK.

Revenue streams

Brand, who has in recent years cultivated an image as a conspiracy theorist and victim of the mainstream “establishment”, has set up a number of revenue streams.

These are primarily earned from fans subscribing to his videos and articles, adverts in social media posts, book sales, and financial kickbacks for promoting a gambling website. He also sells merchandise – with a “Free Russell” T-shirt recently put on sale – and supplements, including one originally designed as antifungal medication for pet fish.

These businesses were all kept alive during his trial, with Brand publishing at least 77 videos or posts during the first half of his trial before going silent in the days before he took the stand. A senior Metropolitan Police officer told  he walked “a fine line” with his content during the trial, and that it was monitored by the judge, Attorney General and police for any risk he may have been jeopardising the case.

One of his biggest moneyspinners is from Locals, a platform owned by Rumble, a video-hosting service that bills itself as “immune to cancel culture”. Locals is partly a feed of content published by a creator, partly a fan forum for supporters to chat. Fans can either pay up to $19.99 (£14.91) to view certain videos posted by Brand, or they can sign up for $60 (£45) for a year’s subscription. They can also send him “tips”. 

According to CORQ’s analysis, Brand appears to have 150,000 to 200,000 subscribers, which would translate to an annual income of at least £6.75m.

“On Locals… he is uploading his old [newspaper] columns, because I suspect he’s going to try and make money from this while he’s locked up,” said Sara McCorquodale, CEO and founder of CORQ. 

Many of the clips published across Brand’s channels during the trial feature his wife, Laura. She appears in several videos, including one the day before the trial in which the pair laugh as they discuss his trial about to start, before promoting her children’s book and showing an old clip of them making shadow puppets.

“We’re in the UK,” Laura says in the clip, with Brand joking, “Why is that? We fancied a trip!”

Later he promotes his book, How to Become a Christian in Seven Days. “My book is out now, there’s a link in the description if you want to buy it!”

A T-shirt of Brand’s face with the words “Free Russell” is on sale for $34.99 (£26) on the online shop of his wellness business, Reborn by Russell Brand. Open-source analysis shows the page selling the T-shirt was created and published on 6 November – the day after his conviction.

“Stand with Russell against injustice silenced for speaking out,” the website says, prompting users to click a button with the words “stand with him” for more details about the shirt. 

The website markets to the US, where Brand and his family moved in 2024 and leant into his public persona as a born-again Christian.

The shop also sells clothing and supplements, including capsules called “Methylene blue” which turn the tongue blue and offer “mental clarity”, with one bottle of 60 tablets costing $30 (£22). It is also used as an antifungal, antibacterial, and antiparasitic medication for fish kept in tanks. For the same price, customers can buy it as a tincture. 

Another earner for Brand’s empire is his promotion of American gambling site Polymarket. Affiliate links – URLs which give a kickback if users spend money on the site after clicking – are posted prominently under many of his videos, including those where he espouses his Christian values and reads from the Bible.

It is unclear if Brand secured any deal with the website to share the links, or if he only receives the kickbacks. His own profile on the site shows he has not gambled on it since 2024, when his account was set up. (He lost around £96.)

How Laura Brand could take over the empire

Brand also appeared to be operating monetised accounts on Rumble and X during his trial. But, despite clocking up almost four million views on content on these two platforms while on trial, his earnings were limited there.

McCorquodale said he was likely to have earned just £500 for this – but the true benefit of these posts is not the money, but visibility. “The reason for him still being on X and all these other platforms where he doesn’t make any money is because he can end up in the feed where he is appearing next to other Christian preacher influencers, and that gives him a very good context for selling his subscriptions to the right audience.”

Brand’s trial will also have propelled him into more social media feeds. McCorquodale’s firm recorded more than three million hits on viral TikTok and Instagram posts made by other creators posting their opinions about the case.

Each of those views is a potential customer for Brand, she said: “It is very much a situation on social media of no attention is bad attention.”

With any interest generated from his trial, Brand’s media empire could continue well into his prison sentence. He was sentenced to a total of 10 and a half years, with the judge saying he will serve at least two thirds of the term before he becomes eligible for release on licence.

While it is not yet clear who will run or earn from Brand’s media and business empire, McCorquodale believes Laura may be positioned to take over to keep the cash flowing while he is in jail.

“I think she is the new face of Russell Brand’s business… She is more integrated into these channels and being put forward as a face which is potentially very sympathetic to his audience. They might really respect her for standing by him, for believing him, for also being very religious,” she said.

Brand’s channels could earn “millions, especially if Laura can be launched as talent in her own right,” McCorquodale said, adding that the focus would be on retaining supporters who discovered Brand when he positioned himself as a persecuted but devout Christian, as well as finding new sympathetic audiences.

Signs Brand has been teeing up his wife to take over can be seen in his application to transfer the ownership of his Henley home. The application, which is still being processed, contains a reference number contains the term “Gal”, thought to refer to his wife, whose maiden name is Gallacher.

On social media, “there are already conspiracy theories and people saying he should not have been convicted”, McCorquodale said. “Brand’s team will probably use that to their advantage.”