The State of Influencer Marketing 2023: Benchmark Report

The Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2023 is our latest overview of the influencer marketing industry. It summarizes the thoughts of more than 3500 marketing agencies, brands, and other relevant professionals regarding the current state of influencer marketing, along with some predictions of how people expect it to move over the next year and into the future.

The world around us has changed considerably over the last few years. The arrival of Covid in 2020 turned much of the world on its head, with enforced lockdowns and scenes reminiscent of a Hollywood disaster movie. By 2022, however, much of the world was learning to live with Covid, clamoring for something resembling their old lives. Unfortunately, they were also learning to live with the economic consequences of Covid, with supply chain disruptions, a chronic shortage of key workers, and creeping inflation threatening to unsettle the global economy.

The State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2023:

Notable Highlights

Influencer Marketing Industry is set to grow to approximately $21.1 Billion in 2023
63% plan to use AI in executing their influencer campaigns, 2/3rd of these brands will use AI for influencer identification
Nearly 60% of influencers felt they faced discrimination in 2022
Over 83% of our survey respondents still believe influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing
71% admit to having increased the amount of content they produce and share
67% of those respondents who budget for influencer marketing intend to increase their influencer marketing budget over 2023
23% of respondents intend to spend more than 40% of their entire marketing budget on influencer campaigns
There is a strong preference for working with small (nano - 39% and micro - 30%) influencers ahead of expensive macro-influencers (19%) and celebrities (12%)
It is now the norm to pay influencers (42%), rather than just give them a free product (30%).
TikTok (utilized by 56% of brands using influencer marketing) is now the most popular influencer marketing channel, jumping ahead of Instagram (51%) for the first time, and well ahead of Facebook (42%) and YouTube (38%).

Survey Methodology

We surveyed approximately 3500 people from a range of backgrounds. 38% of our respondents worked at marketing agencies (including those specializing in influencer marketing), and 22.5% considered themselves brands (or brand representatives). 4% are PR agencies. We merged the remaining 35% as Other, representing a wide range of occupations and sectors.

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Last year, we saw a relative increase in B2B businesses over B2C firms compared to 2021. However, very little has changed this year, with the comparative percentages remaining almost identical. 62% of those surveyed identify as part of the B2C sector, with the remaining 38% running B2B campaigns.

The most popular vertical represented remains Fashion & Beauty (25% of respondents), although this is up considerably from last year's 15%). Gaming became the second-most popular sector (12.9%), followed by Travel & Lifestyle (12.5%). At 12%, Sports were three times as popular this year than last. Family, Parenting & Home (10.7%) also have increased representation in 2023. The big drop, however, was in Health and Fitness (6.8%). The remaining 19%, grouped as Other (and half the equivalent 2022 percentage), covers every other vertical imaginable.

Influencer Marketing Expected to Grow to be Worth $21.1 Billion in 2023

Despite concerns that influencer marketing (indeed, all marketing) might decrease due to Covid19, it didn’t, and has continued to increase in popularity since 2020. Initially, some industries, such as tourism and airlines, had to retrench dramatically and cut back their operations and marketing, but many others adjusted their models to survive in the Covid and post-Covid world. Now there is even renewed life in those more Covid-affected industries.

Over the last year, we have experienced a global economic downturn, and increasing inflation rates, making it more difficult for people to pay for their everyday purchases, nevermind perceived extras. Firms are having to compete more fiercely for the consumer’s dollar, pound, or euro. Successful businesses understand the importance of marketing, including influencer marketing, in tough times, and increase their expenditures on this, even when they have to cost-cut expenses elsewhere.

From a mere $1.7 billion at the time of this site's beginning in 2016, influencer marketing grew to have an estimated market size of $16.4 billion in 2022. Furthermore, this is expected to jump a further 29% to an estimated $21.1 billion in 2023.

Results From Our Survey

Sizeable Increase in Content in Recent Years, But Rate Slowing

We asked our respondents whether they had increased content output over the last two years. A sizable 71% of them admitted to having upped the amount of content they produced. This is, however, noticeably down on last year's 84%.

Despite the comparative fall in increased content, many firms still realize the insatiable demand for online content. The majority of marketers have still increased their content marketing, year after year. Much of this increase in content must be created and delivered by influencers on behalf of brands. Clearly, new content is continually being developed and shared over newer social networks like TikTok.

An Increasing Majority Have a Standalone Budget for Content Marketing

Nearly 2/3 (63%) admit to having a standalone budget for content marketing. This figure creeps up each year and is up from 61% last year, 59% in 2021, and 55% in our 2020 survey.

Yet, although these figures are over 50%, they are surprisingly low. For example, HubSpot reports that 82% of their respondents used content marketing in 2021, up from 70% in 2020. HubSpot also found that almost half (49%) of marketing teams allocate between 30% and 50% of their budget to content.

Firms Value Working with Influencers They Know

We asked our respondents whether they had worked with the same influencers across different campaigns. The majority, 61% (57% in 2021) said they had, versus 39% (43% in 2021) who claimed to use other influencers for their campaigns (or perhaps had only had one campaign so far). These figures are little changed from those reported in 2021.

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