Data
How big is the creator economy? Four estimates, four definitions
Analysts draw different boundaries: brand spending on creators, the influencer marketing industry, or everything creators earn and the tools they pay for. Quote the number with its definition.
Updated
- $32.6bnGlobal influencer marketing industry, 2025 (estimate)Influencer Marketing Hub, Benchmark Report 2025 (opens in a new tab)
- $44bnUS creator ad spend projected for 2026, up from $37bn in 2025IAB, Creator Economy Ad Spend & Strategy Report, Nov 2025 (opens in a new tab)
- £1.2bnUK creator partnerships forecast for 2026, the first year above £1bnIAB UK and IRM, Sep 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- 48%of brands report a return of 3x or more on creator marketing, up from 37%CreatorIQ, State of Creator Marketing, Sep 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Global influencer marketing industry, $ billion
2016 to 2025; 2025 is an estimate. Nineteen-fold since 2016. Source: Influencer Marketing Hub benchmark reports (opens in a new tab).
Show the figures as a table
| Period | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | $1.4bn | influencermarketinghub.com (opens in a new tab) |
| 2016 | $1.7bn | influencermarketinghub.com (opens in a new tab) |
| 2017 | $3bn | technologychecker.io (opens in a new tab) (secondary (Statista re-tabulation of IMH)) |
| 2018 | $4.6bn | technologychecker.io (opens in a new tab) (secondary) |
| 2019 | $6.5bn | influencermarketinghub.com (opens in a new tab) (2020 report said 6.6) |
| 2020 | $9.7bn | influencermarketinghub.com (opens in a new tab) |
| 2021 | $13.8bn | influencermarketinghub.com (opens in a new tab) |
| 2022 | $16.4bn | influencermarketinghub.com (opens in a new tab) |
| 2023 | $21.1bn | influencermarketinghub.com (opens in a new tab) (IMH statistics page via search snippet) |
| 2024 | $24bn | influencermarketinghub.com (opens in a new tab) |
| 2025 | $32.55bn | influencermarketinghub.com (opens in a new tab) |
US creator ad spend, $ billion
IAB has not published 2022 and 2023. 2025 is an estimate, 2026 a projection. Source: IAB (opens in a new tab).
Show the figures as a table
| Period | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $13.9bn | |
| 2024 | $29.5bn | |
| 2025 | $37bn | (projected Nov 2025; reported Apr 2026) |
| 2026 | $44bn | (projection) |
Size of the global creator economy, 2026: what each source says
Each publisher draws a different boundary (whole value chain vs creator income vs platforms, tools and equipment) and mixes observed and modelled years.
| Source | Figure | What it counts | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Business Research Company (opens in a new tab) | $323.48B (2026); $255.66B (2025); $820.83B (2030) | Platforms, tools and services for producing, distributing and monetising content, incl. creation software, editing tools, merchandise platforms, streaming equipment | Forecast | Sep 2026 |
| Grand View Research (opens in a new tab) | $310.4B (2026); $252.3B (2025); $1,345.5B (2033), CAGR 23.3% | Revenue of creators across advertising, subscriptions, tips, affiliate, brand partnerships; segmented by platform and creative service | Forecast | Jun 2026 |
| Paris Creator Week report (opens in a new tab) | $217.3B (2026, modelled), +26.2% from restated $172.2B (2025); $65.2B (2020); 2030 scenarios $380.1B / $570.6B / $639.9B | Value-chain total: advertiser spend $172.8B (sponsorships $108.2B, platform advertising $49.3B, affiliate $15.3B) + audience payments $36.4B + merchandise $8.1B. Split: creators $92.6B, platforms $76.5B, tools $32.0B, agencies $16.2B | 2020-2025 observed per report; 2026 modelled | Nov 2026 |
| Goldman Sachs Research (opens in a new tab) | $250B (2023 'today'); $480B by 2027 | Total addressable market: brand deals, platform ad-revenue share, subscriptions, donations | TAM projection | 19 Apr 2023 |
Influencer or creator marketing spend: what each source says
Global vs US vs UK; brand spend vs creator revenue; with or without paid amplification and non-social channels. Note that IAB's US-only figure is larger than IMH's global figure, which shows how different the boundaries are.
| Source | Figure | What it counts | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IAB (opens in a new tab) | $29.5B (2024); $37B (2025); $44B (2026 proj.) | US advertiser spend on creators ('creator ad spend') | Estimate / projection | 20 Nov 2025 |
| Influencer Marketing Hub (opens in a new tab) | $24B (2024); $32.55B (2025 est.) | Global influencer marketing industry size | Estimate | 2025 |
| eMarketer (opens in a new tab) | $10.52B (2025); ~ $12.17B (2026); $13.7B (2027) | US influencer marketing spend on social platforms, excluding paid amplification | Forecast | Mar 2025 |
| eMarketer (opens in a new tab) | $21.10B (2026) | US social media creator revenue (creator earnings, incl. sponsored content and platform payouts) | Forecast | Feb 2026 |
| IAB UK / IRM (opens in a new tab) | £804m (2024); £966m (2025); £1.217bn (2026 f.) | UK creator partnerships revenue, campaigns targeting UK consumers | Survey estimate / forecast | 16 Sep 2026 |
| CreatorIQ (opens in a new tab) | $4.8M average per organisation; $8.8M enterprise (2026) | Self-reported annual creator marketing investment per organisation, 2,000+ marketers, 9 countries | Survey | 30 Sep 2026 |
Why the numbers differ
The $44bn US figure from IAB is larger than the $32.6bn global figure from Influencer Marketing Hub because they measure different things: IAB counts US advertiser spend on creators, Influencer Marketing Hub estimates the global influencer marketing industry. The largest figures, $217bn to $323bn for 2026, describe the whole creator economy, including platform payouts, subscriptions, tips, commerce and creation tools.
Forecasts to 2030 and beyond are projections from market research firms, not results. Grand View Research projects $1.35tn by 2033; The Business Research Company projects $820.8bn by 2030.
Four layers behind every campaign
Large budgets move through infrastructure most readers never see: discovery and attribution, talent agencies, payments and capital, and compliance. Each has its own platforms in the atlas.
- Discovery and analytics6 Discovery and analytics tools find creators and test whether audiences are real.
- Agencies9 Agencies run strategy, talent and campaigns for large brands.
- Management and commerce7 Management and commerce platforms run programmes, affiliate links, storefronts and payouts.
- Enterprise intelligence5 Enterprise intelligence measures, governs and attributes creator spend at scale.
