CreatorIQ Report Shows Brands Shifting Investment From Digital Advertising To Creator-Led Marketing

A new study from creator marketing platform CreatorIQ finds that brands are shifting investment away from digital advertising budgets and moving them to creator-led marketing initiatives instead.

The end-to-end creator marketing platform powering efforts for over 1,000 brands and agencies, found 67% of surveyed marketers report increasing their investment in influencer marketing from 2022 to 2023. Of those brands whose budgets increased, only 24% are working with a net-new budget and 76% are diverting the funds from other marketing activities, including digital ads.

The majority of marketers cite the advancements in the ability to measure the effectiveness of creator-led campaigns for this shift, enabling them to understand both top- and bottom-of-funnel ROI down to the dollar. Not only can 94% of organizations attribute sales to creator content on social media, but marketers also report that creator-led efforts are consistently outperforming traditional digital advertising channels such as search and email.

“Over the past few years, advancements in measurement solutions have enabled creator marketing to be compared alongside traditional digital channels,” said Conor Begley, Chief Strategy Officer at CreatorIQ. “Now, at a time when macroeconomic factors are constricting ad budgets, brands and agencies have continued to double down on creator-led efforts, which have actually proven to be more efficient for driving impressions, engagement, conversions, and other full-funnel KPIs.”

The full report is available for download here.