Vendor reportCreatorIQ, 2025

72% of enterprise brands said brand safety became more critical over the past year

Shortlisting creators

72%

of enterprise brands said brand safety became more critical over the past year

Reader Note:: This headline figure appears in the brand suitability section and refers to enterprise brand respondents. The report frames brand safety broadly to include governance, compliance, risk mitigation, and brand suitability, not just avoiding explicit content. The exact question wording and subgroup base are not stated here.
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.

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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

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

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

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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

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

89%

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

72% of enterprise brands said brand safety became more critical over the past year

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