Dive Brief:
- U.S. ad spend on the creator economy is projected to reach $37 billion this year, a 26% increase from the $29.5 billion spent in 2024 and almost three times the $13.9 billion spent on the channel in 2021, according to a new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau shared with Marketing Dive.
- The IAB’s “Creator Economy Ad Spend and Strategy Report” highlights how creators have grown in advertising, with nearly half of marketers citing creator content as a “must have.” Findings also highlight the growing role artificial intelligence is expected to play in creator content.
- The report also highlights the challenges that remain, with a third of advertisers citing “finding the right creator” as their top difficulty in the space. Other sticking points include the need for better attribution, reporting and standards for audience authentication.
Dive Insight:
The creator economy has quickly evolved from an experiential channel to a marketing must-have. The IAB’s new study surveyed over 450 ad-spend decision makers, 48% of whom said creators were essential to their marketing plans, ranking the channel as the third most important after paid search and social media. Respondents cited creators’ ability to create personalization at scale and the connections between creators and their audience as reasons for investing in the space.
Most brands use creator campaigns to build brand awareness — cited as a top goal by 43% of respondents — and to reach new audiences, a focus cited by 41%. Nearly a third of advertisers cited driving online sales and conversions as a top goal, suggesting value throughout the purchase funnel. In fact, 40% of respondents ranked overall return on investment as their top performance indicator for creator campaigns.
A key point of friction is finding a creator that aligns with the brand, per the report. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said their top criteria when evaluating creators is their reputation, while 56% said audience alignment is their top priority.
“The creator marketing ecosystem is still highly fragmented, with varying partnership models, siloed budgets, and limited standardization making it tough for marketers to assess things like audience fit or creator credibility at scale,” said Zoe Soon, vice president of IAB’s Experience Center, in release details.
As with other media sectors, AI has disrupted the creator economy. Nearly three-quarters of creator ad buyers are either already using or planning to use AI in the next year to help them boost efficiency. Specifically, 49% of respondents currently use the tech for content editing, while 46% use AI for creator briefs and 45% use it for content personalization. At the same time, 95% of advertisers are concerned about AI’s use in creator campaigns, particularly in the ways it might impact the ability for human connection.
Advertisers are also concerned with areas such as transparency, measurement and standardization. Among the opportunities for improvement uncovered by the IAB’s report were advanced attribution, consistent reporting, creator discovery and vetting tools, and audience authentication standards.
