The creator economy continues to evolve, and is set to reach $500 billion by 2027. CreatorIQ has been capturing the creator marketing industry's transformation for five years in our annual surveys of brands, creators, and agencies. This year, we partnered with Sapio Research to develop independent research on the current landscape, and uncover the trends that will shape the future of creator marketing.
We surveyed over 1.1k brands, agencies, and creators—our largest respondent pool ever. Here are the essential takeaways from The State of Creator Marketing Report: Trends and Trajectory 2024-2025.
The Creator Economy is Booming
Cherline Bazile Sharing Insights
Brands are increasing their investments in creator marketing, with 74% of respondents reporting a year-over-year (YoY) budget increase. This figure represents a 19% jump from 2023, the highest such growth in five years. What's more, creator marketing investment has surged 143% in the past four years, with enterprise organizations spending an average of $1.7M annually.
How Organizations Are Increasing Their Creator Marketing Investment
Team sizes are also growing YoY, with “Influencer Marketing Manager” ranking as one of LinkedIn’s fastest-growing roles.
YoY Team Expansion in 2024
Takeaway: Creator marketing isn’t slowing down—it’s growing faster than ever.
Engagement Matters More than Follower Count
For the first time in our five years of conducting this survey, TikTok ranked as creators’ most-used platform, selected by 68% of respondents.
TikTok's popularity is indicative of a broader preference for video: 67% of creators reported using more video content YoY, while brands and agencies both selected video content as the best creator marketing strategy.
Video Content Most Effective Social Media Strategy for Creator Marketing
TikTok's rise also represents a broader shift among social platforms, which are increasingly prioritizing the most engaging content, rather than content strictly from creators whom users follow. This focus on engagement is a shift in strategy for organizations as well.
Top Five Factors When Brands Select A Creator
Overall, while Instagram remains integral to many brands' strategies, TikTok's experimental environment continues to attract significant investment. In 2024, TikTok not only surpassed Instagram as the most frequently used platform by creators—it also now ties Instagram as the platform generating the highest ROI.
Takeaway: TikTok's rising popularity parallels a shift toward content and engagement, rather than follower count.
Creators With 100k-300k followers Offer the Most Value for Brands
Despite the increasing significance of engagement rate, brands are still considering follower count. It might seem intuitive that powerhouse creators with 1M+ followers offer brands the most ROI—but that isn't the case.
Brands are increasingly working with mid-tier creators (100k-300k followers), who deliver the highest ROI according to more than 1/3 of brand respondents. This cohort of creators resonates with their audience, bringing in high engagement while remaining cost-effective.
Considerations for Established and Mid-Tier Creators
Mid-tier creators weren't the only cohort to shine: according to marketers, established creators (300k-1M followers) provide the greatest impact for long-term creator marketing collaborations.
Takeaway: For many brands, mid-tier creators offer a sweet spot for engaging content that still reaches a large audience.
Creator Content Drives Higher ROI Than Traditional Ads and Owned Channels
While traditional advertising is the go-to for some legacy brands, the creator economy is catching up: 94% of organizations believe that creator content yields higher ROI than traditional advertising, marking a notable 20% increase from 2023.
To assess the impact of creator content, we investigated the performance of 39 of the top Fortune 100 brands, measuring the impact of their owned content versus earned content from creators who posted about those brands.
In 2024, creator content yielded 12x the impressions, 17x the engagements, and 20x the Earned Media Value (EMV) as owned content for the world’s leading brands.
Impressions, Engagements, and EMV Powered by Creator Content
Takeaway: Brands shouldn’t hand the reins over to creators completely—but brands that aren't leveraging creator content will be left behind.
Measurement and Risk Management are Key Priorities
For the first time in five years of conducting our survey, budget limitations no longer rank among organizations’ top challenges. Instead, measuring program success has become a primary concern.
Doug Jensen, Data & Analytics Expert
As the industry becomes more complex, marketers will have to find safe ways to partner with creators, who will play a bigger role in shaping a brand's reputation.
Brand Safety Responses
Takeaway: Creator marketing is inherently complex, especially when scaling your program requires partnering with creators who aren’t part of your organization. For both measurement and brand safety, the future requires building accountability into the fabric of the industry.
The Future Is Content-First and Creator-Led
The industry is at a tipping point: creators are no longer a trend but a necessity. Brands need to align with creators not just as partners, but as strategic drivers of their marketing success. As the industry moves towards a content-first, creator-led future, it is crucial for organizations to foster long-term relationships with creators, and leverage data-backed insights for sustained growth.
Want more insights? Read the full State of Creator Marketing report for a comprehensive look into what’s shaping the future of the creator economy in 2025 and beyond.