How Much Money Does Flo From Progressive Make?
Introduction
If you watch even a small amount of US TV, then you will no doubt have come across advertisements from Progressive Insurance.
They are one of the largest insurance platforms in the country, and have become one of the most well-advertised.
Like other insurance companies with big advertising presences, Progressive has went big on creating a character that people recognize, like the State Farm commercials.
The character that Progressive settled on is a woman called Flo, who has been in over 100 different adverts for the company.
Flo is played by Stephanie Courtney, a comedian who has been around for a long time and has a pretty large following herself.
Her partnership with Progressive, though, has absolutely played a role in elevating her profile further.
With that in mind, the partnership must be a money-maker for both parties – so how much money does Flo from Progressive make?
Her character is the de facto mascot of the company, having been developed over many years to become the advertising face of the company.
Stephanie Courtney attends The Groundlings Theatre 45th anniversary sketch comedy show at The Groundlings Theatre on October 22, 2019 in Los Angeles – @Getty
Developed by John Park and Steve Reepmeyer, the character is not as recognizable as Progressive Insurance themselves.
Indeed, Flo Halloween costumes are now increasingly common, showing us the real power of advertising in the modern world.
Flo does not always appear on her own, though.
As the adverts have continued to grow in terms of size, she has also been joined by other people on the set.
This includes the likes of Holly Austin and Jim Cashman, who have played people who are part of the ‘Progressive World’ that includes various other actors and actresses, including Natalie Palamides.
Who Plays Flo?
March 13, 2017 in Los Angeles – @Getty
As noted above, Flo is played by the comedian Stephanie Courtney.
Born on the 8th of February 1970, Courtney is a New York-based actress and comedian who has a long history of working within the world of theatre and comedy.
She has been a part of NY’s Neighborhood Playhouse program for a long time, and she has also played various other comedic roles in her time.
Courtney first appeared on Tom Goes to the Mayor, a 2004 sitcom where she played Renee and then later Joy Peters.
She also enjoyed appearances in shows like 2007’s Cavemen and was also in Mad Men, where she played the role of Marge.
Her acting success comes from being educated in New York and going to Binghamton University to receive a bachelor’s degree in English.
Since then, she has begun to work her way up the acting and comedic world, creating a very impressive career for herself over the years.
She spent many of her early years sketchwriting and working at comedy festivals, as well as working odd jobs to pay the bills.
Arguably her ‘big break’ came when she began to work with Progressive, though.
She joined a comedy theatre known as The Groundlings in Los Angeles, and she began to get a lot of work in the world of commercials.
That helped her to land the aforementioned TV roles we mentioned above, but her first commercial advertisement came in 1999 when she was part of the Bud Light commercial aired at that year’s Superbowl.
She also had roles in commercials for big brands like Toyota and the candy Skittles, which gave her extra self-belief that she was made for advertising as much as she was made for comedy.
When Did Courtney First Appear On Advertisements?
Stephanie Courtney attends the Groundlings 40th Anniversary Gala at Hyde Lounge on June 1, 2014 in West Hollywood – @Getty
In 2007, Courtney was booked for an audition to land the role of Progressive Insurance.
She arrived and promptly took on a caricature of her own mother, impressing the judges and landing the role.
Asked to play someone who was hyper-nice, to the point of being almost ridiculous, she took on the personality that her mother had embodied for much of her life, and in 2008 Flo was created with Courtney behind the character.
Very quickly, people began to take to the character, finding her to be endearing and enjoying the ads as they came along.
Clearly, Progressive felt some kind of boon from the advertisements as they started to have more and more adverts, including Flu, appearing.
Stephanie Courtney attends the Love & Bananas: An Elephant Story Los Angeles premiere at Laemmle Music Hall on May 4, 2018 in Beverly Hill – @Getty
Progressive was, prior to their Flo advertising campaign, actually doing better: their net worth was estimated to be just under $12bn when the Flo advertisements started to first appear.
However, this fell to under $8bn in 2010, though there are many factors at play for this, not least the financial recession that hit the world like a tonne of bricks at the time.
Since then, though, Progressive has risen to find a strong position within the market – and a large part of that comes down to their advertising campaigns.
Indeed, Progressive is believed to have spent around $1.37bn on advertising campaigns since 2022, meaning they spent more than State Farm and only missed out on Geico in terms of being the nation’s largest advertising spenders within the insurance industry.
Part of that can be attributed to their successful advertising campaign, with many surveys showing that Flo makes their products easier to grasp for laymen and gives people a good idea of what they offer.
Insurance is often a complex business, and characters like Flo can be good for advertising to help make the complex become convincing. You would imagine, then, that this is a pretty well-paying gig!
Stephanie Courtney is seen on July 9, 2023 in Los Angeles – @Getty
How Much Does Flo From Progressive Make? Net Worth
It is believed that Flo brings in a cool $1m per annum from her work with Progressive. This is a huge sum for someone who appears in commercials alone, despite the fact that commercials are such a major part of advertising. The role itself is often short, as most Progressive ads are very short, so the actual dollars-to-minutes ratio must be pretty nifty.
However, some believe that this might be a conservative estimate of how much Flo makes from her work with Progressive.
While we are unlikely to ever find out the exact figure, it is almost certain that the role of Flo helps to bring Courtney a cool $1m per annum just from this.
Add in the other work that she does, and it would be fair to say that Stephanie Courtney is doing pretty well for herself! She has an estimated net worth of $7 million.
Thanks to union pay scales, though, it could be expected that the role of Flo, given how long it has gone on for and how well-received the character is, could be bringing in anything up to $2m per annum.
Not bad at all!
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I am Bulgarea Candin Stefan, and I founded FamousPeopleToday.com in 2018. I’m using my bachelor’s degree in economics and 9 years of experience in blogging to guide millions of people through the incredibly complex world of celebrity net worths.