Meet the Czech Republic’s top 5 male and female influencers

Do you know your vloggers from your YouTubers? Your Instragrammers from your TikTokers? And do you know the Czech “influencers” using these platforms to share content with huge audiences?

New quarterly results for the nation's most popular stars from Lafluence, a Czech online server for influencers and companies who want to work with them, is a good place to start.

Lafluence’s rundown of the top five most “influential” male and female influencers on Instagram shows Czechs are most interested in the lives and activities of sportspeople, TV personalities, artists, models, and even one disgraced former politician.

The Czech Republic’s most popular male influencer is ex-footballer Petr Čech. Čech could, for a time, lay claim to being one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Ironically, given Instagram’s predominantly visual format, many people struggle to recognize Čech without the famous skullcap which he wore for much of his goalkeeping career following a horror injury sustained while playing for Chelsea football club in 2006. Čech has 2.2 million followers on Instagram.

This is a full 900,000 more than the second-most-followed male Czech Instagram star, CrossFit athlete Tomáš Chlup. CrossFit is a branded physical exercise philosophy involving constantly varied, high-intensity movements enhancing strength, conditioning and overall fitness. Chlup is its most famous practitioner in Czechia and his exercises are watched by 1.3 million Instagram followers.

TV presenter and singer Leoš Mareš is the third most popular male influencer, with 1.1 million followers. Mareš has presented some of the country’s most popular talent shows including Czech SuperStar, and appeared as a judge on Czechia-Slovakia’s Got Talent (Česko Slovenkso má talent).

YouTuber Jirka Král comes in fourth with 922,000 followers. The fifth-most popular male influencer in the country remains Dominik Feri, the former politician accused of various counts of sexual assault and rape. Feri resigned from his prominent position in the TOP 09 party as the country’s youngest and first Black MP in May 2021.

Feri’s audience is shrinking at a steady rate, but 865,000 followers are still keen to keep track of the activities of one of the country’s most notorious public figures.

Sportspeople are missing from the list of the most popular female influencers, replaced by actresses, singers, and models.

Prague-based pencil artist Silvie Mahdal was the most followed female Instagram influencer with 1.5 million followers. Her account mainly comprises images of her life-like pencil drawings. Compared to other Instagram stars, Mahdal keeps relatively low personal profile; her online fame is primarily down to the success of her artworks, and many of her followers come from abroad.

Second place is taken by model Aneta Mlčáková. She moved up from fourth place in the previous ranking published by Lafluence, and now has 961,000 followers.

Another model is in third place: Karolina Kurková has 926,000 followers. She is the co-founder of plant-based skincare and health brand Gryph & IvyRose.

Actress and blogger Anna Šulcová is the fourth-most-popular female influencer with 898,000 followers. Forbes ranks Šulcová as the third-best-paid YouTuber in the Czech Republic, with an annual income estimated at CZK 5 million.

Singer Monika Bagárová, with 886,000 followers, rounds out the female top five. Of Romani descent, Bagárová rose to fame in the first season of Czech-Slovak SuperStar. She released her first album in 2011 and became a SuperStar judge in 2020.