Influencer Marketing Statistics 2026: 100+ Verified Stats

Influencer marketing statistics in 2026 describe a channel that has become a line item rather than an experiment. US brands will spend an estimated $37 billion on creators in 2025, rising to $44 billion in 2026, and almost half of US ad buyers now call creators a "must buy".

This page collects more than 100 figures on influencer and creator marketing: spend, platforms, pricing, consumer trust, ROI, B2B use, AI and disclosure rules. Every number was checked against its original publisher in October 2026. Much of the data in this field comes from companies that sell influencer software or services, so each line names its source, and vendor surveys are labelled. We also checked nine of the most repeated influencer "facts", including the famous $5.78 return on every dollar.

Influencer marketing statistics at a glance

• $37 billion in US creator ad spend in 2025, up 26% year on year (IAB)
• $44 billion projected for 2026 (IAB)
• 48% of US ad buyers consider creators a "must buy" (IAB)
• 86% of consumers make at least one influencer-inspired purchase a year (Sprout Social)
• 58% of people trust influencers to give accurate brand information, against 84% for friends and family (Edelman, 2025)
• 79% of enterprise marketers struggle to measure influencer ROI (Linqia)
• Only 21.2% of brands use influencer marketing when all marketers are surveyed, not just influencer specialists (HubSpot, 2026)
• $3,000 is the median creator fee per campaign, against an $11,400 average (CreatorIQ, 2025)

Influencer marketing spend and market size statistics

From the IAB's 2025 Creator Economy Ad Spend report, based on 453 US ad spend decision-makers. These are US figures for brand spend on creators:

1. US creator ad spend is projected to reach $37 billion in 2025, up 26% year on year, about four times faster than the media industry overall.
2. It is expected to reach $44 billion in 2026.
3. Spend more than doubled from $13.9 billion in 2021 to $29.5 billion in 2024.
4. 48% of US ad buyers now consider creators a "must buy", behind only social media and paid search.
5. 40% of creator ad buyers rank overall ROI as their top KPI.
6. 95% of advertisers have concerns about using AI in creator marketing.

From CreatorIQ's research. CreatorIQ sells creator marketing software, and its figures reflect mostly enterprise brands:

7. Brand investment in creator marketing reached an estimated $32.6 billion in global market value in 2025.
8. Average annual creator marketing investment reached $4.8 million per organisation, up 33%, and $8.8 million for enterprises (2026 to 2027 report, 2,000 respondents).
9. 66% of organisations increased their creator marketing investment year on year.
10. Brands put an average of 48% of their marketing budget into creator marketing, rising to 66% among brands reporting 5x ROI. This is a high figure from a sample of creator-marketing users.
11. Creator content makes up 44% of brands' paid media creative on average, and 92% of paid media leaders use creator content in paid ads (100 respondents).
12. Average influencer budgets rose 171% year on year in CreatorIQ's 2025 survey of 1,723 marketers, agencies and creators.

From other industry surveys:

13. 87.49% of marketers expect their influencer budget to increase in 2026, and only 5.55% expect a cut (Influencer Marketing Hub, 600+ respondents).
14. 62% of enterprise marketers are increasing influencer budgets in 2026, and 33% plan to spend more than $5 million (Linqia, 200+ enterprise marketers).
15. 74% of marketers plan to increase influencer budgets in 2026 (Aspire).
16. When all marketers are surveyed, only 21.2% of brands use influencer marketing: 23.6% in B2C and 18.6% in B2B (HubSpot 2026, 1,500+ marketers). The gap with vendor surveys is the sample: vendor surveys ask people who already do influencer marketing.
17. Goldman Sachs projected in 2023 that the creator economy could roughly double to $480 billion by 2027, from $250 billion. This is a total market estimate, far broader than brand spend on creators.

Influencer marketing platform statistics

18. From August 2025 to July 2026, 99% of CreatorIQ customers used Instagram for creator marketing, 93% TikTok, 80% YouTube and 79% Facebook.
19. 85% of brands say Instagram is their most-used creator platform, and 29% say it drives the most ROI against 27% for TikTok (CreatorIQ, 2025).
20. YouTube is the top platform brands choose for experimenting and expanding, at 23%, while 33% of creators say TikTok gives the best content performance (CreatorIQ, 2025).
21. 31% of marketers included TikTok in their 2026 influencer plans, the most-selected platform (Influencer Marketing Hub).
22. TikTok Shop accounts for 66% of social commerce platform selections among adopters, with Instagram Checkout next at 13% (Influencer Marketing Hub).
23. 32% of brands already sell on TikTok Shop and another 25% plan to soon (Aspire).
24. 48% of brands have built creator-driven commerce into their marketing or revenue strategy (CreatorIQ, 2026).
25. YouTube has paid more than $100 billion to creators, artists and media companies over the past four years (YouTube).
26. More than 500,000 creators are in YouTube Shopping (YouTube, January 2026).
27. Nearly 10% of daily Reels views come from content made in Meta's Edits app (Meta, Q4 2025).

For platform data in more depth, see our YouTube statistics and short-form video statistics.

Creator economy statistics

28. The top 10% of creators earned 62% of all creator payments in 2025, up from 53% in 2023 (CreatorIQ).
29. The top 1% earned 21%, up from 15% in 2023 (CreatorIQ).
30. Aggregate creator payments grew 59% year on year in 2025 (CreatorIQ).
31. 62% of creators work with operational support such as a team or outsourced services (CreatorIQ).
32. 70% of creators made less than $49,000 from content in the past year (Linktree, 2024).
33. Creators' biggest monetisation problems are producing content consistently (59%) and algorithm uncertainty (55%) (Linktree, 2024).
34. Only about 4% of creators worldwide are professionals earning more than $100,000 a year, and brand deals make up about 70% of creator revenue (Goldman Sachs, 2023).

Influencer pricing statistics

35. Creators earned an average of $11,400 per campaign in 2025, but the median creator earned just $3,000 (CreatorIQ).
36. Half of influencers charge $250 to $1,000 per post, and 71% offer discounts for longer partnerships (Sprout Social).
37. About 80% of brands report UGC creator costs under $500, as do about 55% for nano creators and 45.5% for micro creators (Influencer Marketing Hub).
38. Rising creator costs are the top influencer challenge for 2026, cited by 35.4% (Influencer Marketing Hub).
39. Typical per-post guidance: nano creators (1,000 to 10,000 followers) $100 to $500, micro (10,000 to 100,000) $500 to $2,500, macro (100,000 to 1 million) $2,500 to $10,000+, and mega (1 million+) $10,000 to $50,000+ (Later, 2026). These are guidance ranges, not survey results.
40. Reels add 20% to 30% to a creator's base rate, and whitelisting content for paid ads adds 30% to 50% (Later).
41. Talent agencies typically add 10% to 20% on top of fees for macro and mega creators (Later).
42. 67% of brands build content usage rights into the creator's initial contract or rate (Aspire).

Consumer trust and behaviour statistics

43. 86% of consumers make at least one influencer-inspired purchase a year (Sprout Social, 2025, 2,000+ consumers).
44. Only 16% of consumers rank influencer marketing as the biggest influence on what they buy, even though about half make influencer-inspired purchases at least monthly (Sprout Social).
45. 64% of social users will buy more from a brand that partners with an influencer they like, rising to 76% of Gen Z (Sprout Social).
46. 67% of consumers say honest, unbiased content makes the best brand and influencer collaborations (Sprout Social).
47. 64% say genuine reviews persuade them to buy, and 55% say discount codes (Sprout Social).
48. Only 15% of all consumers engage with influencers on TikTok, against 27% of Gen Z (Sprout Social).
49. Influencers are trusted by 58% to give accurate information about a brand, level with the brand's CEO, below customer reviews (68%) and well below friends and family (84%) (Edelman Trust Barometer, 2025, 15,042 people in 15 countries).
50. 88% of people trust recommendations from people they know more than any other channel (Nielsen, 2021). This is friends and family, not influencers.
51. 79% of Gen Z YouTube viewers in the US trust creator recommendations on YouTube, and 89% seek out videos from specific creators (Google with Kantar, 2026, 344 people). This is platform-commissioned research.
52. 66% of consumers have bought something they discovered on social media, including 79% of Gen Z and 76% of millennials (Later, 2026, 1,079 consumers).
53. 21% of US adults regularly get news from news influencers, rising to 38% of 18 to 29 year olds (Pew Research Center, 2025).
54. 77% of news influencers have no affiliation with a news organisation (Pew, 2024).

Influencer marketing ROI and measurement statistics

55. 79% of enterprise marketers struggle to measure influencer ROI, and 48% say attribution is the biggest gap (Linqia).
56. 81% of marketers say repurposed influencer content outperforms brand-created assets (Linqia).
57. 69% of marketers say influencer-generated content outperforms brand-directed content (Sprout Social).
58. 77% of marketers repurpose creator content in paid ads (Sprout Social).
59. Marketers mainly benchmark influencer performance through engagement (68%) and link traffic (50%) (Sprout Social).
60. Measurement is the top creator marketing challenge (26%), ahead of content velocity (21%) and navigating AI (20%) (CreatorIQ, 2025).
61. Gifting and seeding are named a top ROI driver by just 20% of brands, down from 71% in 2020 (CreatorIQ).
62. Brand awareness is the most-selected influencer KPI, at 55.1% (Influencer Marketing Hub).
63. Promo and discount codes are the most-used measurement tool (45.9%), ahead of affiliate links (26%) (Influencer Marketing Hub).
64. 65.9% of brands expect influencer spend to pay back within a month. That is an expectation, not a measured result (Influencer Marketing Hub).
65. Fake or bot followers account for 56.5% of all reported influencer fraud and quality issues (Influencer Marketing Hub).
66. Measuring ROI is marketers' top challenge across all channels in 2026, at 33% (HubSpot).

Influencer content format statistics

67. Short-form video is the format marketers most often credit with ROI, at 48.6%, ahead of long-form at 28.6% and live at 25.1% (HubSpot, 2026).
68. 83% of marketers rank long-form video among their top three influencer formats, 80% short-form and 62% live shopping (Influencer Marketing Hub).
69. Micro-influencers delivered the most success for 32.4% of marketers using influencers, just ahead of macro at 30.2% and well ahead of mega at 13.1% (HubSpot, 2026).
70. 53% of influencers most want to create 15 to 30 second short-form videos for brands (Sprout Social).
71. 52% of YouTube users are most likely to engage with brands' short-form videos, with long-form close behind at 49% (Sprout Social).
72. UGC campaigns are used by 31% of brands and boosted creator posts by 39% (CreatorIQ, 2025).
73. Only 8% of brands choose follower count as a top creator-selection criterion, against 22% for brand fit (CreatorIQ).

B2B influencer marketing statistics

From TopRank Marketing's B2B Influencer Marketing Report. TopRank sells B2B influencer services:

74. 85% of B2B marketers use influencers, up from 34% in 2020 (2024 report).
75. 99% of B2B marketers using an always-on influencer approach rate their programmes effective, and 58% of B2B teams use one.
76. 43% report outstanding results, rising to 79% among teams with mature programmes.
77. 53% say their dedicated influencer budget is growing.
78. 57% already use AI to help create influencer content.
79. The top B2B challenge is finding and qualifying the right influencers (48%), followed by measuring results (47%).
80. 53% of B2B brands pay influencers on a performance basis, and 46% per deliverable.

From the LinkedIn 2025 B2B Marketing Benchmark, with Ipsos, based on 1,500 senior B2B marketers:

81. Expert endorsements are 1.7x more likely to give a B2B brand the edge over a rival than the company's own written content.
82. 21% of B2B marketers cite a lack of third-party endorsements from creators, analysts or partners as a top barrier to building trust.
83. Nearly 94% of B2B marketers say building trust is the most critical factor for B2B brand success.

From Sprout Social:

84. 67% of B2B brands use influencer marketing to raise brand awareness, and 54% to build credibility and trust.

AI in influencer marketing statistics

85. 95% of brands use AI in creator marketing, mostly for captions (45%), research (44%) and editing (41%) (CreatorIQ, 2025).
86. 41% of creators say their voice or likeness should never be replaced by AI (CreatorIQ).
87. 69% of brands want to fully automate influencer workflows (CreatorIQ).
88. 74% of enterprise marketers use AI for ideas, briefs and workflows, but 89% avoid virtual influencers (Linqia).
89. Creator discovery is the top AI use in influencer marketing (36.67%), and only 10.56% of marketers use no AI at all (Influencer Marketing Hub).
90. 56% of shoppers who use AI prefer AI recommendations that include creator perspectives, and 65% feel more confident when they draw on credible creator reviews (IAB, 2026, 2,200 consumers).
91. 91% of people who use generative AI use it for shopping in some way (Edelman, 2025).
92. Over 1 million YouTube channels a day used YouTube's AI creation tools in December 2025 (YouTube).

Influencer disclosure statistics

93. The FTC requires creators to disclose any material connection to a brand: personal, family, employment or financial (FTC Disclosures 101).
94. Video endorsements must carry the disclosure in the video itself, and live streams must repeat it periodically (FTC).
95. The FTC's rule on fake reviews and testimonials took effect on 21 October 2024, and it bans buying or selling fake followers and views for commercial use.
96. Violations of the FTC's consumer review rule carry civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation (FTC, December 2025).
97. In the UK, only about 57% of influencer ads were properly disclosed in a 2024 review of 50,000+ posts from 509 accounts, and 34% had no disclosure at all (UK Advertising Standards Authority).
98. Disclosure rates were similar on Instagram (55%) and TikTok (60%) (ASA, 2024).
99. UK influencer complaints to the ASA rose 55% in 2020, from 1,979 to 3,144 (ASA).
100. The UK Competition and Markets Authority secured commitments from 16 celebrities to label paid and gifted posts (CMA, 2019).

Influencer marketing myths we checked

"Influencer marketing returns $5.78 for every $1." This comes from Influencer Marketing Hub's 2020 benchmark, where it was the average earned media value per dollar in 2019, a measure of exposure, not revenue. It is still widely quoted as ROI. It is also not the older Tomoson figure: Tomoson's 2015 poll of 125 marketers reported $6.50.

"The influencer marketing industry is worth $X." Three different numbers get mixed up: Influencer Marketing Hub's $32.55 billion global estimate for 2025, the IAB's $37 billion for US creator ad spend, and Goldman Sachs' $480 billion for the whole creator economy by 2027. They measure different things, which is why a US-only figure can be bigger than a "global" one.

"Micro-influencers always get higher engagement." Partly true. Engagement rates are higher for smaller accounts in older data, but HubSpot's 2026 survey shows micro and macro influencers almost tied for which delivered the most success (32.4% against 30.2%).

"49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations." This traces to a 2016 Twitter and Annalect study of about 800 Twitter users. It is a decade old and drawn from one platform's users.

"92% of people trust influencers more than ads." Misattributed. Nielsen's 2012 figure of 92% was about trust in recommendations from friends and family, not influencers.

"Influencer fraud costs brands $1.3 billion a year." This was a one-year 2019 projection by CHEQ, a company that sells fraud protection, with a university economist. It is not a measured annual cost.

"Gifting is the main way to get ROI from influencers." Outdated. CreatorIQ found the share of brands naming gifting and seeding as a top ROI driver fell from 71% in 2020 to 20% in 2025.

"The platform's paid-partnership label satisfies the FTC." Not necessarily. The FTC's 2023 guidance says built-in platform tools may not be enough on their own.

"#gifted or #spon is enough in the UK." No. UK regulators expect "#ad" or a clear "advert" label.

What the influencer marketing statistics mean for brands

Three patterns stand out. First, the money is moving to creators because the content works harder than brand-made assets: most marketers say creator content outperforms their own, and the majority now reuse it in paid ads. Creator content is becoming a production input, not just a distribution channel.

Second, measurement is the weak point. Most enterprise marketers cannot measure influencer ROI properly, and the most-cited ROI figure in the industry turns out to be a measure of exposure, not revenue. Budgets are growing on faith in a channel many teams cannot yet prove.

Third, video does the work. Short-form video is the format marketers most often credit with ROI, long-form still ranks among the top influencer formats, and the creator content that performs in paid ads usually needs re-cutting, captioning and versioning for each platform. That is editing work. Our short-form video editing service covers it.

How we verified these influencer marketing statistics

Every figure was taken from the publisher's own report, press release or regulatory page, not a roundup. Influencer statistics are recycled more than almost any other marketing data, so several popular figures were left out because we could not find them at the source they are credited to.

A few cautions. Most surveys here are run by companies that sell influencer software or services, and their samples are people who already do influencer marketing, which is why their adoption figures run far higher than HubSpot's survey of all marketers. Pricing ranges are guidance, not measured averages. Older figures, such as Goldman Sachs' 2023 forecast, are labelled. For wider B2B video data, see our B2B video marketing statistics.

Where Pixel8 fits

Pixel8 Production is a video editing agency for B2B brands, SaaS companies and agencies. We do not film. We edit the footage you already have, including creator and UGC content, into ads, short-form clips and long-form videos for each platform. Pricing is a $900 one-time trial, then $2,000 to $3,200 per month; see pricing.