CreatorIQ, the enterprise influencer marketing platform, has released its fifth annual State of Creator Marketing Report.

The fifth annual study underscores the rapid growth of creator marketing investment and maturity, with industry leaders allocating 57 per cent of their marketing budgets to creator marketing and spending 299 per cent more on creator marketing than organisations overall.

Creator Marketing Growing Faster Than Ever

Three-quarters (74 per cent) of organisations reported increased creator marketing investment over the last year, up from just 55 per cent the previous year—the most significant jump since CreatorIQ’s first study in 2020. Additionally, 78 per cent of organisations expect to invest more in creator marketing over the next two years.

This growth follows a 143 per cent increase in spending on creator marketing over the last four years, lending further support to projections that the creator economy will reach $500 billion by 2027. Driving this momentum is growing proof that a creator content-first strategy works better: 94 per cent of surveyed organizations reported that creator content generates more ROI than traditional digital advertising. This perspective increased 20% YoY.

“Creator marketing has fundamentally changed how brands connect with consumers, and there is an untapped opportunity to leverage creator content better. Algorithms now feed consumers the likeliest content to engage with, regardless of whom they follow. As a result, breaking through the noise has become increasingly difficult,” said Chris Harrington, CEO at CreatorIQ. “The future of marketing is content-first and creator-led. Brands need confidence that their programs are safe, seamless, smart, and scalable. CreatorIQ is building upon 10 years of data, expertise, and machine learning to meet the growing needs of brands for this future.”

Brands Evolve Past Basic Creator Programme Foundations

For the first time in five years of the study, inadequate budget and staffing are no longer the top creator marketing roadblocks for brands. Instead, difficulty measuring creator performance is now the top challenge, despite 70 per cent of brands reporting that creator marketing contributed to their highest ROI campaign.

While organisations widely recognised creator marketing as a top ROI driver, CreatorIQ’s survey found that there is potential to utilise creator content more widely. Just 42 per cent of respondents used creator content for digital ads and paid social targeting. Brand safety has emerged as an additional challenge: one out of five brand respondents consider brand safety one of the most important factors when selecting new creator partners.

Creators are Powerful

CreatorIQ’s proprietary data found that for Fortune 100 brands with leading social programmes, creator content powered 32 times more posts, 12 times more impressions, and 17 times more engagement than brands’ owned content across Instagram and TikTok.

Creators care about the integrity of their content and seek to maintain authenticity when partnering with brands. Some 99 per cent of creators surveyed report that they care about creative control when working with brands, and 84 per cent of creators would not work with a brand with poor-quality offerings, even if the compensation was high.

“The sheer volume of creator content allows brands to connect with consumers within their distinct communities while still operating at scale,” said Brit Starr, CMO at CreatorIQ. “Creator content unlocks a more authentic and resonant path to consumer engagement across all channels—and brands must pull that lever strategically and responsibly to build sustainable connections with their audiences.”

Social Platform Dynamics Are Changing

Instagram has been the dominant platform for creator marketing for five years—but TikTok and YouTube are climbing the ranks.

• 84 per cent of brands say Instagram is their top platform for creator marketing, followed by YouTube (73 per cent) and TikTok (71 per cent)

• 27 per cent of brands say TikTok is the top platform for experimentation

• 31 per cent of creators selected TikTok as the most creator-friendly platform, followed by Instagram (29 per cent) and YouTube (19 per cent)

• 28 per cent of creators chose Instagram as the most lucrative platform, followed by TikTok (27 per cent) and YouTube (23 per cent)

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Tags: CreatorIQ, instragram, tiktok