The Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2023 is our latest overview of the influencer marketing industry. It summarizes the thoughts of more than 3500 marketing agencies, brands, and other relevant professionals regarding the current state of influencer marketing, along with some predictions of how people expect it to move over the next year and into the future.

The world around us has changed considerably over the last few years. The arrival of Covid in 2020 turned much of the world on its head, with enforced lockdowns and scenes reminiscent of a Hollywood disaster movie. By 2022, however, much of the world was learning to live with Covid, clamoring for something resembling their old lives. Unfortunately, they were also learning to live with the economic consequences of Covid, with supply chain disruptions, a chronic shortage of key workers, and creeping inflation threatening to unsettle the global economy.

Unsurprisingly, many businesses have struggled to survive in the new environment. And those that have made it this far are needing to find new ways to market, so they stand out in the minds of consumers. Creator and influencer marketing appear to be more important than ever for connecting brands with their target customers.

Notable highlights

• Influencer Marketing Industry is set to grow to approximately $21.1 Billion in 2023
• 63% plan to use AI in executing their influencer campaigns, 2/3rd of these brands will use AI for influencer identification
• Nearly 60% of influencers felt they faced discrimination in 2022
• Over 83% of our survey respondents still believe influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing
• 71% admit to having increased the amount of content they produce and share
• 67% of those respondents who budget for influencer marketing intend to increase their influencer marketing budget over 2023
• 23% of respondents intend to spend more than 40% of their entire marketing budget on influencer campaigns
• There is a strong preference for working with small (nano - 39% and micro - 30%) influencers ahead of expensive macro-influencers (19%) and celebrities (12%)
• It is now the norm to pay influencers (42%), rather than just give them a free product (30%).
• TikTok (utilized by 56% of brands using influencer marketing) is now the most popular influencer marketing channel, jumping ahead of Instagram (51%) for the first time, and well ahead of Facebook (42%) and YouTube (38%).