A new report from Influencer Marketing platform CreatorIQ found that creator content now accounts for 44% of paid media creative at enterprise brands on average, with 92% of paid media leaders and marketing executives incorporating it into paid media operations.
The research, conducted in partnership with Sapio Research in May 2026, surveyed 100 paid media managers and marketing executives at brands and agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Creator Content Outperforms Branded Creative
Among surveyed marketers, 87% said creator content outperforms traditional branded creative in paid media, with 43% describing the performance difference as “significant.” Seventy-seven percent said creator content performs better than traditional paid media overall.
Fortune 100 brands produced 77,000 owned posts on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube between January and August 2025, compared with 2.5 million creator posts during the same period, a ratio of 33 to one. Two-thirds of increases in Influencer Marketing spend came from funds reallocated from paid channels, according to the report. Average annual Influencer Marketing spend across surveyed organizations was $6.6 million, with the most common bracket being $5 million to $10 million, cited by 33% of respondents.
ROI and Performance Metrics
Eighty-six percent of respondents reported achieving at least 2x return on investment from creator marketing, with 42% reporting 3x ROI and 15% reporting returns of 5x or more.
Respondents ranked brand lift, defined as awareness, sentiment, and consideration, as the top metric for evaluating creator campaign success (58%), followed by sales and revenue (54%). Marketing executives prioritized revenue impact at a higher rate, with 70% selecting sales and revenue compared with 47% of paid media respondents.
Thirty-six percent described creator marketing as equally valuable for awareness and performance, ranking that characterization above “primarily a brand awareness and reach tool” (32%), “primarily a content production tool” (26%), and “primarily a performance and revenue driver” (6%).
Funnel Performance
Forty-one percent of respondents identified the mid-funnel, covering consideration and engagement, as the stage where creator marketing delivers the strongest measurable return. Thirty-two percent said top-of-funnel, and 13% said bottom-of-funnel.
In terms of active organizational usage, 77% said they deploy creator marketing at the consideration stage, 62% at the conversion stage, 61% at the awareness stage, and 34% for retention and loyalty.
Content Repurposing Across Channels
The most common channel for redeploying creator content beyond the original sponsored post was paid social and digital advertising, cited by 65% of respondents. Websites and landing pages ranked second (56%), followed by retail and commerce placements (47%), organic brand-owned social channels (45%), and email campaigns (41%).
“Forward-thinking brands extend the value of each creator partnership beyond the original post,” said Michael Lambie, Head of Global Measurement and Insights at CreatorIQ. “Mature programs use benchmarks and performance data to inform creator selection, paid amplification, and investment.”
Scaling and Operational Complexity
Despite widespread adoption, brands reported notable friction in scaling creator content. The top barrier was difficulty isolating creator-driven paid performance from other creative assets, cited by 58% of respondents. Difficulty obtaining usage rights or content permissions ranked second (54%), followed by lack of integration between creator tools and paid media workflows (52%).
Brands reported using an average of four separate tools to manage end-to-end creator marketing workflows. Forty-six percent use four to five tools, and only 5% manage everything within a single platform.
“The creator marketing conversation has moved well past ‘does this work’; brands already know it does,” said Vivian Ly, Senior Product Manager at Sprinklr. “The harder question is whether their infrastructure can keep pace with how creator content actually moves through the funnel today.”
Eighty-four percent of respondents said AI has improved the efficiency of their creator marketing programs, with 45% describing the improvement as slight and 39% as significant. Ninety-five percent expressed confidence in their ability to measure creator marketing’s revenue impact. Fifty-seven percent said their organizations had fully integrated creator marketing into the same measurement framework as their paid media programs, with an additional 37% reporting partial overlap.
“On TikTok, creators bring a level of authenticity, trust, and cultural fluency that help brands connect with their audiences to drive lasting business impact,” said Keiko Mori, Head of Creative Product Marketing, North America at TikTok. “The most successful marketers are no longer thinking about creator content as a standalone tactic, but as an integrated part of their broader marketing strategy.”
The report also included creator pay benchmarks based on data from 38,100 creators across 59,600 campaigns conducted between 2018 and early 2026 through the CreatorIQ platform. Financial services recorded the highest average creator pay at $39,700, and retail recorded the lowest at $6,700.
Image source: CreatorIQ The full report is available here
Dragomir is a Serbian freelance blog writer and translator. He is passionate about covering insightful stories and exploring topics such as influencer marketing, the creator economy, technology, business, and cyber fraud.
A new report from Influencer Marketing platform CreatorIQ found that creator content now accounts for 44% of paid media creative at enterprise brands on average, with 92% of paid media leaders and marketing executives incorporating it into paid media operations.
The research, conducted in partnership with Sapio Research in May 2026, surveyed 100 paid media managers and marketing executives at brands and agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Creator Content Outperforms Branded Creative
Among surveyed marketers, 87% said creator content outperforms traditional branded creative in paid media, with 43% describing the performance difference as “significant.” Seventy-seven percent said creator content performs better than traditional paid media overall.
Fortune 100 brands produced 77,000 owned posts on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube between January and August 2025, compared with 2.5 million creator posts during the same period, a ratio of 33 to one. Two-thirds of increases in Influencer Marketing spend came from funds reallocated from paid channels, according to the report. Average annual Influencer Marketing spend across surveyed organizations was $6.6 million, with the most common bracket being $5 million to $10 million, cited by 33% of respondents.
ROI and Performance Metrics
Eighty-six percent of respondents reported achieving at least 2x return on investment from creator marketing, with 42% reporting 3x ROI and 15% reporting returns of 5x or more.
Respondents ranked brand lift, defined as awareness, sentiment, and consideration, as the top metric for evaluating creator campaign success (58%), followed by sales and revenue (54%). Marketing executives prioritized revenue impact at a higher rate, with 70% selecting sales and revenue compared with 47% of paid media respondents.
Thirty-six percent described creator marketing as equally valuable for awareness and performance, ranking that characterization above “primarily a brand awareness and reach tool” (32%), “primarily a content production tool” (26%), and “primarily a performance and revenue driver” (6%).
Funnel Performance
Forty-one percent of respondents identified the mid-funnel, covering consideration and engagement, as the stage where creator marketing delivers the strongest measurable return. Thirty-two percent said top-of-funnel, and 13% said bottom-of-funnel.
In terms of active organizational usage, 77% said they deploy creator marketing at the consideration stage, 62% at the conversion stage, 61% at the awareness stage, and 34% for retention and loyalty.
Content Repurposing Across Channels
The most common channel for redeploying creator content beyond the original sponsored post was paid social and digital advertising, cited by 65% of respondents. Websites and landing pages ranked second (56%), followed by retail and commerce placements (47%), organic brand-owned social channels (45%), and email campaigns (41%).
“Forward-thinking brands extend the value of each creator partnership beyond the original post,” said Michael Lambie, Head of Global Measurement and Insights at CreatorIQ. “Mature programs use benchmarks and performance data to inform creator selection, paid amplification, and investment.”
Scaling and Operational Complexity
Despite widespread adoption, brands reported notable friction in scaling creator content. The top barrier was difficulty isolating creator-driven paid performance from other creative assets, cited by 58% of respondents. Difficulty obtaining usage rights or content permissions ranked second (54%), followed by lack of integration between creator tools and paid media workflows (52%).
Brands reported using an average of four separate tools to manage end-to-end creator marketing workflows. Forty-six percent use four to five tools, and only 5% manage everything within a single platform.
“The creator marketing conversation has moved well past ‘does this work’; brands already know it does,” said Vivian Ly, Senior Product Manager at Sprinklr. “The harder question is whether their infrastructure can keep pace with how creator content actually moves through the funnel today.”
Eighty-four percent of respondents said AI has improved the efficiency of their creator marketing programs, with 45% describing the improvement as slight and 39% as significant. Ninety-five percent expressed confidence in their ability to measure creator marketing’s revenue impact. Fifty-seven percent said their organizations had fully integrated creator marketing into the same measurement framework as their paid media programs, with an additional 37% reporting partial overlap.
“On TikTok, creators bring a level of authenticity, trust, and cultural fluency that help brands connect with their audiences to drive lasting business impact,” said Keiko Mori, Head of Creative Product Marketing, North America at TikTok. “The most successful marketers are no longer thinking about creator content as a standalone tactic, but as an integrated part of their broader marketing strategy.”
The report also included creator pay benchmarks based on data from 38,100 creators across 59,600 campaigns conducted between 2018 and early 2026 through the CreatorIQ platform. Financial services recorded the highest average creator pay at $39,700, and retail recorded the lowest at $6,700.
Image source: CreatorIQ
The full report is available here
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