Creator Marketing Statistics for 2026: Creator Economy Market Size, Influencer ROI, Brand Spending, Platform Performance, Monetization, and Audience Benchmarks

In 2026, creator marketing has crossed from experimental budget line to foundational channel. The global creator economy market reached USD 205.25 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 1.35 trillion by 2033 at a 23.3% CAGR according to Grand View Research. The influencer marketing subset, which represents the branded collaboration layer of that ecosystem, reached USD 32.55 billion in 2025, growing at a 33.11% compound annual growth rate since 2014. Social media surpassed paid search as the world’s largest advertising channel in 2024 for the first time, reaching USD 247.3 billion in global ad spend. And in that social environment, 92% of marketing professionals rate influencer marketing as highly effective.

The ROI data validates the investment. Brands generate an average of USD 5.78 for every dollar spent on influencer marketing, with top-performing campaigns reaching USD 11 to USD 18 per dollar. TikTok delivers a short-term ROI of 11.8% according to TikTok and Dentsu research, and 75% of advertisers say TikTok influencers gave them their highest ROI of any platform. The average influencer marketing CPM dropped 53% year-over-year according to the Aspire State of Influencer Marketing 2025 report, making the channel substantially more efficient per thousand impressions than in prior years. And 41% of brands report that repurposing creator content in paid ads delivers higher ROI than studio-produced creative.

The creator income structure has also shifted. Brand deals remain the primary income source for 68.8% of creators globally, but dependency on single-source revenue has declined as creators diversify into subscriptions, affiliate programs, direct merchandise, and digital products. Top-earning creators maintain seven or more revenue streams compared to two for lower earners. Only 4% of all creators earn over USD 100,000 annually, while 50% make under USD 15,000, creating a vast undermonetized base that represents cost-efficient partnership opportunities for brands willing to work with micro and nano creators at scale.

This article compiles more than 60 creator marketing statistics drawn from the Grand View Research Creator Economy Market Report, the Market.us Creator Economy Report (November 2025), the SNS Insider Creator Economy Market Report (September 2025), the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report (315 marketers and 100-plus industry leaders), the Aspire State of Influencer Marketing 2025 (1,000-plus marketers and creators), the Archive.com Creator Economy Market Size and ROI research, the WeArisma Influencer Marketing Report 2025, the Influencer Marketing Hub State of Social Media Marketing 2025 (900-plus marketers), the Sociallyin 2026 Influencer Marketing Statistics, Stack Influence 2025 Key Numbers, and Shopify’s 2025 ROI of Influencer Marketing guide, all published within the last two years.

Scope and Methodology

Includes only publicly available creator marketing statistics relevant for 2026.
Based on the latest figures published within the last two years.
Sources include primary research, first-party platform data, institutional studies, and industry reports.
Each statistic is listed separately with its original source and study context.
No estimates, forecasts, interpretations, or recommendations are included.

Key Creator Marketing Statistics for 2026

The global creator economy market reached USD 205.25 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 1,345.54 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 23.3% from 2025 to 2033, based on the Grand View Research Creator Economy Market Report published at Grand View Research.
The influencer marketing industry reached USD 32.55 billion in 2025, up from USD 24 billion in 2024, representing a 35.6% year-over-year increase and a 33.11% compound annual growth rate since 2014, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report drawing on survey data from 315 marketers and insights from over 100 industry leaders, published at Influencer Marketing Hub.
Social media surpassed paid search as the world’s largest advertising channel in 2024, reaching USD 247.3 billion in global ad spend and expected to hit USD 266.92 billion in 2025, based on data cited in the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report published at Influencer Marketing Hub.
Brands generate an average of USD 5.78 for every dollar spent on influencer marketing, with top-performing campaigns reaching USD 11 to USD 18 per dollar, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report cited in a 2025 key influencer marketing statistics overview at Stack Influence.
The average influencer marketing CPM dropped 53% year-over-year, while affiliate revenue driven by creators on the Aspire platform grew 71% year-over-year, based on the Aspire State of Influencer Marketing 2025 report drawing on internal data and insights from over 1,000 marketers and creators, published at Aspire.
81.2% of marketers rate influencer marketing as highly effective in 2025, down 3.6% year-over-year but still representing more than four in five marketing professionals endorsing the channel, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report published at Influencer Marketing Hub.
86% of brands planned a budget for influencer marketing in 2024, up from 82% in 2023, and 75.6% of respondents plan to dedicate budget to influencer marketing in 2025, based on data cited in a January 2026 influencer marketing statistics overview by Sociallyin.
68.8% of creators globally rely on brand deals as their primary income source, down from 91% in 2021, as creators diversify into subscriptions, affiliate marketing, digital products, and merchandise, based on the Market.us Creator Economy Report (November 2025) cited in a creator economy statistics overview by Electroiq.
41% of brands report that repurposing creator content in paid ads delivers higher ROI than studio-produced creative, making influencer-generated content an increasingly valuable asset beyond its original organic use, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report cited in a Shopify 2025 influencer ROI guide at Shopify.
Creator economy startups raised over USD 767 million globally between 2023 and 2024, representing 49% year-over-year funding growth, with AI-focused creator startups securing more than USD 300 million of that total, based on data cited in a 2026 creator economy market size statistics overview by Archive.com.
Only 4% of creators globally earn over USD 100,000 annually, while 50% make under USD 15,000 per year, creating a vast undermonetized creator base that represents high-quality, cost-accessible partnership opportunities for brands willing to work with smaller creators, based on data cited in a 2026 creator economy market size statistics overview by Archive.com.
57% of creators are increasing their rates in 2025, but 83% are still willing to work with brands for free products if they love the brand or the product value is high, based on the Aspire State of Influencer Marketing 2025 published at Aspire.

Creator Economy Market Size Statistics

The Global Creator Economy Market was valued at USD 203.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 1,181.3 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 24.60% from 2025 to 2032, based on the SNS Insider Creator Economy Market Report published September 2, 2025, via GlobeNewsWire at SNS Insider via Yahoo Finance.
The U.S. creator economy market is valued at approximately USD 50.9 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 297.3 billion by 2034 at a CAGR of 19.3%, based on the Market.us Creator Economy Report (November 2025) published at Market.us.
North America dominated the global creator economy market with a 37.4% revenue share in 2024, generating USD 55.8 billion, driven by advanced digital infrastructure, high social media penetration, and mature platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Patreon, and Instagram, based on the Market.us Creator Economy Report cited in a creator economy statistics overview at Electroiq.
There are over 400 million creators globally as of 2024, with individual content creators leading the market at 57.2% to 58.7% revenue share, based on the Grand View Research Creator Economy Market Report published at Grand View Research.
U.S. full-time digital creator jobs rose from 200,000 in 2020 to 1.5 million in 2024, a 650% increase that reflects the professional mainstreaming of content creation as a career, based on data cited in the Market.us Creator Economy Report at Market.us.
Video streaming dominated the creator economy market in 2024, capturing 39% of revenue, while social media platforms held the largest platform share at 29%, and podcasting is projected to grow at the fastest CAGR through 2032, based on the SNS Insider Creator Economy Market Report cited at SNS Insider via Yahoo Finance.
Brand collaborations made up the largest single share of creator earnings at 22.7% in 2024, followed by advertising revenue at 22.1%, subscriptions, and direct-to-fan contributions, with subscriptions projected as the fastest-growing monetization segment through 2033, based on data cited in a 2026 creator economy platform growth statistics overview at Archive.com.
YouTube reclaimed the top spot from TikTok as the platform where creators earn the most income in 2024, with YouTube at 28.6% of creator income share and TikTok at 18.3%, based on Epidemic Sound data cited in a 2026 creator economy platform growth statistics overview at Archive.com.

Influencer ROI and Effectiveness Statistics

TikTok delivers a short-term ROI of 11.8% according to TikTok and Dentsu internal research, and 75% of advertisers say TikTok influencers gave them their highest ROI compared to other social media platforms, based on data cited in a Shopify 2025 ROI of influencer marketing guide at Shopify.
Instagram influencer campaigns yield approximately USD 4.12 per USD 1 spent on average, slightly below the cross-platform USD 5.78 average, based on industry benchmarks cited in a 2025 key influencer marketing statistics overview at Stack Influence.
Brand ambassador programs delivered the highest ROI for brands in 2025 among all influencer campaign structures, outperforming one-off sponsored posts and gifted collaborations, based on the Aspire State of Influencer Marketing 2025 published at Aspire.
Gifted partnerships deliver 2.19% engagement rates, 12.9% higher than paid collaborations at 1.94%, particularly effective in categories where authenticity and product passion are critical to credibility, based on data cited in a 2025 influencer marketing growth statistics analysis by Archive.com.
Campaigns that match influencer niche to product category achieve 13.59% higher engagement and 81.39% more views, yet only 37.20% of brands implement niche-aligned creator selection, based on the Archive.com 2025 influencer marketing growth statistics analysis published at Archive.com.
80% of brands tracked sales or conversions from their influencer campaigns as a primary KPI in 2025, a significant increase from prior years as measurement sophistication has improved, based on data cited in a 2025 key influencer marketing statistics overview at Stack Influence.
35.6% of brands list sales as their primary influencer marketing campaign goal in 2025, up significantly from prior years, reflecting a structural shift from awareness-focused to performance-focused creator programs, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report cited in a Shopify 2025 influencer ROI guide at Shopify.

Creator Tier Performance Statistics

Nano-influencers on TikTok with 1,000 to 10,000 followers achieve an average engagement rate of 10.3%, compared to 1.73% for Instagram nano-influencers in the same tier, and TikTok mega-influencers maintain a 7.1% engagement rate even at massive follower scale, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report published at Influencer Marketing Hub.
Nano-influencers now represent 75.9% of Instagram’s entire influencer base and achieve a 2.71% average engagement rate, 50% higher than micro-influencers, based on data cited in a 2025 influencer marketing growth statistics analysis at Archive.com.
Micro-influencers on TikTok with 2,000 to 100,000 followers achieve conversion rates 22.2 times higher than celebrity influencers, making the mid-range tier the most efficient creator segment for direct conversion goals, based on the Emplicit TikTok Engagement Rate Benchmarks 2025 analysis published at Emplicit.
73% of brands now prefer to work with micro and mid-tier creators over celebrity influencers, driven by better engagement-to-cost ratios and stronger audience trust signals, based on data cited in a 2025 influencer marketing ROI metrics statistics overview at Archive.com.
70% of brands should focus their budgets on micro-influencers with 10,000 to 100,000 followers for maximum ROI, according to WeArisma’s 2025 influencer marketing analysis, which also identifies micro-influencers as consistently outperforming larger creators in engagement rates and cost-effectiveness across most industries, based on the WeArisma Influencer Marketing Report 2025 published at WeArisma.
Top-earning creators maintain 7 or more revenue streams versus 2 for lower-earning creators, creating recurring partnership opportunities for brands offering multi-touchpoint ambassador programs rather than one-off posts, based on data cited in a 2026 creator economy market size statistics overview at Archive.com.
57% of full-time creators earn below a living wage from platform revenue alone, making brand deals essential to creator income and creating strong receptivity to well-structured brand partnership programs, based on data cited in a 2026 creator economy platform growth statistics overview at Archive.com.

Brand Spending and Budget Statistics

49.2% of brands planned to increase their influencer marketing budgets in 2025, down from 59.4% in 2024, reflecting a recalibration toward ROI optimization rather than volume expansion as the channel matures, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report cited in a January 2026 influencer marketing statistics overview at Sociallyin.
47.4% of brands spent less than USD 10,000 on influencer marketing in 2024, while 38.1% spent between USD 10,000 and USD 500,000, and a smaller apex group spent over USD 500,000, based on Cropink data cited in a January 2026 influencer marketing statistics overview at Sociallyin.
Lower annual influencer spending under USD 10,000 declined by 10.5% in 2025, while spending above USD 500,000 decreased by 3.5%, reflecting a shift toward medium-scale, precision-targeted creator programs rather than either mass celebrity campaigns or token micro-budgets, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report published at Influencer Marketing Hub.
64.6% of brands actively use influencer marketing in 2025, with 56% of campaigns aiming to generate user-generated content and only 23% focused on direct sales, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub State of Social Media Marketing 2025 survey of over 900 marketers published at Influencer Marketing Hub.
Instagram maintains the top platform for brand influencer investment with 57.1% brand preference, and U.S. influencer marketing spending on Instagram reached USD 2.21 billion in 2024, based on data cited in a 2025 influencer marketing ROI metrics statistics overview by Archive.com.
50% of marketers believe TikTok offers the best ROI among all social platforms despite Instagram’s higher absolute spending, and 78% of TikTok users have purchased a product after seeing creator content, based on data cited in a January 2026 influencer marketing statistics overview by Sociallyin.
94% of small businesses plan to spend more on influencer marketing in the next 12 months, compared to larger enterprises where budget growth has plateaued, reflecting the channel’s particular value for brands seeking targeted, cost-efficient reach against audiences they cannot easily access through traditional media, based on Sixth City Marketing data cited in a January 2026 influencer marketing statistics overview by Sociallyin.

Monetization and AI Statistics

Livestreaming is the leading content strategy in 2025, cited by 52.4% of marketers as a high-impact format, driven by TikTok LIVE and YouTube Live commerce integrations that allow real-time product discovery and purchase within the stream, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report cited in a Shopify 2025 ROI of influencer marketing guide at Shopify.
84% of creators are already using AI tools for scripting, thumbnails, video editing, and ideation as of 2024 to 2025, making AI adoption nearly universal among active content creators, based on data cited in a 2026 creator economy platform growth statistics overview at Archive.com.
73% of marketers believe influencer marketing processes can be largely automated through AI, spanning content capture, creator vetting, performance tracking, and leadership reporting, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report cited in a 2025 influencer marketing ROI metrics statistics overview at Archive.com.
Meta launched its Creator Monetization Suite in May 2025, integrating in-stream ads, Reels bonuses, and brand collaboration tools into a unified dashboard across Instagram and Facebook, and YouTube expanded ad revenue sharing for Shorts creators globally in February 2024, based on platform milestone data cited in the SNS Insider Creator Economy Market Report at SNS Insider via Yahoo Finance.
72% of surveyed marketers agree that audiences are not just ignoring ads but actively rejecting transactional marketing, making creator-led authentic content increasingly critical as a delivery mechanism for brand messages that would otherwise face high rejection rates in paid formats, based on the Influencer Marketing Hub State of Social Media Marketing 2025 survey of over 900 marketers at Influencer Marketing Hub.
67% of B2B brands now use LinkedIn influencers primarily for awareness campaigns, with LinkedIn influencer marketing showing rapid adoption in B2B sectors where professional credibility and thought leadership are key purchase drivers, based on Sprout Social Q1 2025 Pulse Survey data cited in the WeArisma Influencer Marketing Report 2025 at WeArisma.

Regional or Geographic Statistics

Brazil accounted for the largest number of creators globally at 106 million, representing 50% of its population, followed by the United States with 86 million creators at 26% of population, Germany with 19 million at 23%, and South Korea with 17.5 million at 34%, based on creator count data cited in a creator economy statistics overview at Electroiq.
Asia-Pacific is set to achieve the fastest CAGR in the creator economy through 2032, driven by mobile-first content creation and the popularity of short-form video on Kuaishou, TikTok, and ShareChat across India, Indonesia, and China, based on the SNS Insider Creator Economy Market Report published at SNS Insider via Yahoo Finance.
India is witnessing rapid creator economy growth, with creators leveraging vernacular content in regional languages to capture untapped audiences across hundreds of millions of mobile-first internet users, based on data cited in the Influencer Marketing Hub 2025 Benchmark Report published at Influencer Marketing Hub.
The United States accounts for 91.2% of North American creator economy revenue and is home to 94 of the world’s top creator economy startups, with the UK in second place with 16, based on the Market.us Creator Economy Report cited in a creator economy statistics overview at Electroiq.
Europe is experiencing steady creator economy growth supported by rising demand for localized and culturally relevant content, with monetization adoption increasing as platforms roll out region-specific subscription, ad revenue, and brand partnership tools, based on the SNS Insider Creator Economy Market Report published at SNS Insider via Yahoo Finance.
The MENA and Latin America regions are seeing double-digit growth in creator marketing budgets driven by increased brand focus on regional relevance and local influencer partnerships, with Brazil alone hosting 106 million creators representing 50% of its total population, based on data cited in a 2025 influencer marketing statistics analysis at Marketing LTB.
Goldman Sachs projects 50 million global creators will grow at 10% to 20% CAGR over the next five years, with the number of monetizing creators growing faster than total creator count as platform monetization tools expand and direct-to-fan revenue models lower the income threshold for sustainable creator businesses, based on data cited in a creator economy statistics overview at DemandSage.

References

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