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Vendor reportCreatorIQ, 2025

Most added creator budget came out of paid and digital ads

Budget allocation


Budget sourceMid-market brands (%)Enterprise brands (%)
Digital or paid advertising64%62%
Owned social media57%54%
Increased budget pool due to cost-cutting measures using AI46%54%
Email marketing44%51%
Events42%46%
Print or broadcast advertising33%39%
Net new budget30%41%
Direct mail or gifting/seeding30%33%
Changes in software stack22%41%
Agency retainer fee20%26%

Sources of increased influencer marketing budget, mid-market vs enterprise brands

Reader Note:
This table asks brands where increases in influencer marketing budget predominantly came from, with multiple selections allowed. Digital or paid advertising is the top source for both mid-market brands at 64% and enterprise brands at 62%, followed by owned social media at 57% and 54%, and increased budget pool due to cost-cutting measures using AI at 46% and 54%. The report summarizes this as nearly two-thirds of increased influencer investment being reallocated from digital and paid channels. The exact sample for each brand cohort is not stated.
Evidence:
Self-reported behaviour
Vendor interest:
High — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:
Survey of 1,723 respondents: 747 brands, 676 agencies, and 300 creators across 17+ industries and 9+ regions, conducted by Sapio Research in July 2025, with additional CreatorIQ research in August 2025.

Good for

A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.

Not for

  • Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
  • This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
  • The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.

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