Vendor reportCreatorIQ, 2025

In creator selection, brand fit mattered most and follower count mattered least

Shortlisting creators

Selection factor	Brands (%)
Creator suitability or fit for brand	22%
Content performance	17%
Working with a diverse group of creators	14%
Brand affinity, or a history of posting about your client	12%
Follower audience demographics	10%
Aesthetic alignment with your brand	9%
Campaign fit	8%
Follower count	8%

Most Important Factor Brands Use When Selecting New Creators to Work With

Reader Note:: This table asks brands, “When you are selecting new creators to work with, which factor is most important?” Creator suitability or fit for brand ranks first at 22%, followed by content performance at 17% and working with a diverse group of creators at 14%. Follower count ties for last at 8%, alongside campaign fit. The result reflects stated selection priorities, not observed creator hiring data.
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.

Influencer selection is mainly based on engagement rate and audience demographics (94% and 88%), with only 25% using social listening on what consumers discuss

Share of marketers using each data input to select influencers, and what it measures
Data input	Usage (%)
Engagement rate (Influencer output)	94%
Audience demographics (age, gender, location) — Influencer audience	88%
Past campaign performance data (Influencer track record)	81%
Audience interest / affinity data (Influencer audience)	78%
Follower count and reach metrics (Influencer scale)	72%

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Sponsored posts got more engagement when influencers had either very low or very high ad loads, and did worst in the middle

People were about twice as likely to share the sponsored Instagram post when the influencer had low or high ad load instead of a middle one

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Fixing your influencer marketing campaign: How to get into the top 10% of advertisers

1.95x

higher conversion odds came with stronger creator audience-brand fit in influencer marketing campaigns

97% of marketers say influencer marketing targeting is inconsistent, immature, or essentially guessing; only 3% say it is very mature with high precision

How marketers rate the influencer marketing industry's targeting maturity (% of respondents)
Industry targeting maturity	Share (%)
Very mature, targets consumers with high precision	3%
Somewhat mature, pockets of sophistication	44%
Immature, most campaigns lack structured targeting	29%
Very immature, essentially guessing	15%
Unsure	9%

89%

of marketers do not plan to work with virtual influencers AI avatars or digital clones of creators in 2026

In creator selection, brand fit mattered most and follower count mattered least

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