According to the market research firm Emarketer, influencer marketing spending is predicted to hit $10 billion in 2025. This is a year earlier than Emarketer had previously forecasted. Interestingly, the biggest winners of this growth are YouTube creators.
According to their report, this acceleration occurred because brands have become “fully committed” to influencer marketing. As a result of this, the company estimates that influencer marketing spending rose by 23.7%. Comparatively, in 2024, influencer marketing spending was said to have risen by 16.0%.
Emarketer also predicted that another $1.37 billion will be added this year to the overall influencer marketing market, with spending hitting $10.52 billion.
Jasmine Enberg, VP and principal analyst at Emarketer, said: “Influencer marketing is maturing and diversifying. The boom days of spending growth on social media-sponsored content are largely over.
However, brands are directing more of their influencer budgets to paid social ads and non-social channels, from TV to digital out-of-home to podcasts, which is funneling more money into the tactic.”
Why Is YouTube Benefiting The Most?
Per Emarketer, the three biggest platforms for influencer marketing deals are Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Out of all of these, the most prominent platform is YouTube, with marketers predicted to spend $3.45 billion on sponsored content on the platform. This is $1 billion more than the spending on TikTok, which is said to amount to $2.35 billion.
It appears that YouTube’s projected growth is primarily due to the uncertainty around TikTok, with spending growth slowing to 17%.
“Fewer marketers are thinking TikTok-first,” Enberg added. “They’re hesitant to sign on TikTok-only creators in case the platform goes dark again.”
Indeed, Emarketer also reports that other social media platforms like YouTube are capitalizing on this uncertainty by courting TikTokers. This arguably has led to YouTube being the platform of choice for more than half of US marketers.
This pivot to YouTube hasn’t come out of nowhere. YouTube Shorts’ viewership has increased by 25% year-on-year, with the micro-platform also shining in a recent earnings report.
As Enberg points out, “influencer marketing is bigger than TikTok.” She also claims that “even prior to TikTok’s troubles, the conversation was growing around YouTube.” In the age of short-form video, YouTube has escaped irrelevancy by adapting to the creator economy’s changes. It goes to show that to survive in the creator economy, you must embrace change.
