Later (2025) — AI ROI in influencer marketing

Summary:

This article comes from Later, an influencer and social media marketing platform that sells AI-powered campaign tools. Its goal is to show marketers that AI in influencer work pays off, and to position Later's own AI engine as the way to do it.

The data comes from a Later survey of 189 influencer marketing decision-makers at CPG brands with more than $5M in annual revenue, all of whom had used AI in influencer marketing in the past 12 months. The survey ran in September 2025.

Key insights:
• 77% of brands say AI-assisted influencer campaigns perform better than traditional ones, and 37% say results are "much better". 18% see the same results, 5% worse or don't know.
• 75% of brands are open to using AI in creator collaborations in 2025, up from 23% in 2023 (per the chart; the text says 29%).
• 62.2% of brands used AI extensively in influencer marketing over the past year.
• 90% expect AI to bring long-term value, and 59% are very confident.
• 46% see AI as a strategic growth driver, 42% as useful for efficiency, and only 10% still see it as risky or unproven.
• The biggest gains brands named: higher engagement rates (37%), more efficient targeting (37%), faster turnaround (33%) and better ROI/cost efficiency (30%).

Margin notes:
This is a vendor report that promotes Later EdgeAI and ends with a sales call to action. All respondents already use AI, so the sample leans toward brands that chose to adopt it, and the results are self-reported rather than measured campaign data. The EdgeAI figures (41% higher engagement, 72% more creators) come from Later's platform data, not from this survey. Text and charts also disagree in places: the 2023 baseline is 29% in the text but 23% on the chart, and cost efficiency is "1 in 3" in the text but 30% on the chart.