New research from Influencer Ltd. highlights challenges and opportunities in the growing creator economy, where brands and content creators face a communication gap despite shared goals.
The report, “Creator Perspectives: A Playbook for Brands to Thrive in the Creator Economy,” outlines key findings from surveys of 500 creators across different audience sizes and geographic regions.
Creators Hustle While Brands Spend
Despite the creator economy’s growth—surpassing $24 billion in influencer marketing spend in 2024—the reality for most creators remains starkly different from what many brands assume.
The research reveals that 88% of content creators still consider their work a side hustle, with only 12% producing content full-time.
Even among high-profile creators, just 25% of those in the Hero/Megastar category rely on content creation as their primary income source. The percentage drops significantly for creators with smaller audiences, with only 7% of micro-creators and 15% of macro-creators working full-time in content creation.
“I love filming content for TikTok; it’s a breakaway from my everyday job. While I’d love to do it full time, at the moment there’s no guarantees – I have a steady job and I would have to be pulling in the same amount if not more for a few months in order to switch,” explains a UK-based macro-creator identified as @duetswith_t in the report.
Despite these challenges, 72% of creators feel positive about the future of social platforms, seeing evolution as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Creators Seek More Than Megaphone Status
The report identifies a significant knowledge gap between creators and brands, with 64% of creators wanting to learn about the measures of success (KPIs) that are important to brands.
Meanwhile, 57% expressed interest in understanding their role in the wider marketing world, and 55% wanted to learn about their place in the larger marketing strategy of the brands they collaborate with.
“In the marketing industry, we tend to invite creators onto panels, ask them a few questions, but it’s a challenge for marketers to get to grips with what it’s really like to be a creator and, ultimately, how to get the best out of your relationship with them as an advertiser,” notes Caspar Lee, Chief Vision Officer at Influencer.
Image credit: Influencer Ltd.
This disconnect extends to perceptions about what brands value. While both creators and brands rank engagement as the top KPI (56% and 55%, respectively), creators believe brands prioritize follower growth second (46%) and reach third (45%), with content/creativity falling to fifth place (39%).
In contrast, creators themselves place content/creativity as their second most important measure of success (52%).
The research also shows that 72% of creators prefer long-term partnerships, though only 54% have them. This illuminates another area where creator preferences don’t align with market realities.
When deciding whether to work with brands, creators consider three main factors: the brand’s reputation, credibility, quality of products/services, and alignment with personal values (78%); their personal experience with the brand, product, and customer service (67%); and the relevance and meaning the partnership has to their audience (64%).
Creativity Drives Content Quality and Value
Contrary to popular assumptions, 58% of creators prefer clear guidelines over complete creative freedom.
Only 21% favor full creative license, with another 21% expressing neutral feelings on the subject. This challenges the notion that creators primarily seek unrestricted creativity in brand partnerships.
“Encouraging creative freedom within the framework of brand guidelines can lead to innovative content that resonates with audiences,” states a U.S.-based macro-creator identified as @mrscotteddy.
The research highlights several pain points creators encounter when working with brands, with payment delays topping the list (41%), followed by creative constraints (37%), lack of long-term opportunity (37%), appearance expectations (32%), unrealistic deadlines (32%), excessive content revisions (31%), pay gaps (31%), and poor communication (27%).
Image credit: Influencer Ltd.
Nearly a third (29%) of creators report they don’t feel they can be their authentic selves during brand partnerships, and 31% say they experience unreasonable or excessive revision requests from brands.
The report emphasizes that quality creative work is essential not just for creator satisfaction but for campaign effectiveness. As marketing researcher Peter Field notes in the report, “You can get away with being boring if you have very deep pockets…it costs 11-15% more to achieve the same results with a dull ad than an interesting one.”
The research positions creators as increasingly important partners for brands seeking to navigate platform changes and audience fragmentation. Creators offer brands access to authentic community connections, cultural relevance, and the specialized content production capabilities necessary to compete in algorithm-driven environments.
“The number one driver of public trust in advertising is the quality of the creative – and this is where creators come into their own, through their creativity, entertainment value, and emotional engagement,” says Scott Guthrie, Director General of IMTB, as quoted in the report.
Building Better Brand-Creator Relationships
The report concludes with actionable insights for brands seeking to improve their creator partnerships:
Recognize creators’ hustle and support their journey with flexible partnerships and realistic expectations
Invest in creators as brand custodians rather than treating them as one-off campaign tools
Prioritize genuine engagement and creators who demonstrate dedication to their craft
Speak the same language by sharing goals upfront and dropping marketing jargon
Treat relationships as the foundation of successful collaborations
Approach authenticity as a strategic consideration rather than merely a stylistic choice
Provide clear guidelines that inspire rather than restrict creativity
Define success metrics clearly to avoid misalignment and excessive revisions
“At Influencer, we care about humanizing brands. That means helping advertisers fit seamlessly into creator content in a way that works for their communities,” says Ben Jeffries, CEO of Influencer. “The exciting thing this report shows? The ad industry excites creators. They want to know more. How they fit into the marketing mix, what campaigns are individually trying to achieve, and what are the KPIs? What does success look like?”
The research, conducted in partnership with cultural insights firm Crowd DNA, analyzed 560,000 English-language posts across social platforms and surveyed 500 creators from various regions and audience sizes to develop these insights.
New research from Influencer Ltd. highlights challenges and opportunities in the growing creator economy, where brands and content creators face a communication gap despite shared goals.
The report, “Creator Perspectives: A Playbook for Brands to Thrive in the Creator Economy,” outlines key findings from surveys of 500 creators across different audience sizes and geographic regions.
Creators Hustle While Brands Spend
Despite the creator economy’s growth—surpassing $24 billion in influencer marketing spend in 2024—the reality for most creators remains starkly different from what many brands assume.
The research reveals that 88% of content creators still consider their work a side hustle, with only 12% producing content full-time.
Even among high-profile creators, just 25% of those in the Hero/Megastar category rely on content creation as their primary income source. The percentage drops significantly for creators with smaller audiences, with only 7% of micro-creators and 15% of macro-creators working full-time in content creation.
“I love filming content for TikTok; it’s a breakaway from my everyday job. While I’d love to do it full time, at the moment there’s no guarantees – I have a steady job and I would have to be pulling in the same amount if not more for a few months in order to switch,” explains a UK-based macro-creator identified as @duetswith_t in the report.
Despite these challenges, 72% of creators feel positive about the future of social platforms, seeing evolution as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Creators Seek More Than Megaphone Status
The report identifies a significant knowledge gap between creators and brands, with 64% of creators wanting to learn about the measures of success (KPIs) that are important to brands.
Meanwhile, 57% expressed interest in understanding their role in the wider marketing world, and 55% wanted to learn about their place in the larger marketing strategy of the brands they collaborate with.
“In the marketing industry, we tend to invite creators onto panels, ask them a few questions, but it’s a challenge for marketers to get to grips with what it’s really like to be a creator and, ultimately, how to get the best out of your relationship with them as an advertiser,” notes Caspar Lee, Chief Vision Officer at Influencer.
Image credit: Influencer Ltd.
This disconnect extends to perceptions about what brands value. While both creators and brands rank engagement as the top KPI (56% and 55%, respectively), creators believe brands prioritize follower growth second (46%) and reach third (45%), with content/creativity falling to fifth place (39%).
In contrast, creators themselves place content/creativity as their second most important measure of success (52%).
The research also shows that 72% of creators prefer long-term partnerships, though only 54% have them. This illuminates another area where creator preferences don’t align with market realities.
When deciding whether to work with brands, creators consider three main factors: the brand’s reputation, credibility, quality of products/services, and alignment with personal values (78%); their personal experience with the brand, product, and customer service (67%); and the relevance and meaning the partnership has to their audience (64%).
Creativity Drives Content Quality and Value
Contrary to popular assumptions, 58% of creators prefer clear guidelines over complete creative freedom.
Only 21% favor full creative license, with another 21% expressing neutral feelings on the subject. This challenges the notion that creators primarily seek unrestricted creativity in brand partnerships.
“Encouraging creative freedom within the framework of brand guidelines can lead to innovative content that resonates with audiences,” states a U.S.-based macro-creator identified as @mrscotteddy.
The research highlights several pain points creators encounter when working with brands, with payment delays topping the list (41%), followed by creative constraints (37%), lack of long-term opportunity (37%), appearance expectations (32%), unrealistic deadlines (32%), excessive content revisions (31%), pay gaps (31%), and poor communication (27%).
Image credit: Influencer Ltd.
Nearly a third (29%) of creators report they don’t feel they can be their authentic selves during brand partnerships, and 31% say they experience unreasonable or excessive revision requests from brands.
The report emphasizes that quality creative work is essential not just for creator satisfaction but for campaign effectiveness. As marketing researcher Peter Field notes in the report, “You can get away with being boring if you have very deep pockets…it costs 11-15% more to achieve the same results with a dull ad than an interesting one.”
The research positions creators as increasingly important partners for brands seeking to navigate platform changes and audience fragmentation. Creators offer brands access to authentic community connections, cultural relevance, and the specialized content production capabilities necessary to compete in algorithm-driven environments.
“The number one driver of public trust in advertising is the quality of the creative – and this is where creators come into their own, through their creativity, entertainment value, and emotional engagement,” says Scott Guthrie, Director General of IMTB, as quoted in the report.
Building Better Brand-Creator Relationships
The report concludes with actionable insights for brands seeking to improve their creator partnerships:
“At Influencer, we care about humanizing brands. That means helping advertisers fit seamlessly into creator content in a way that works for their communities,” says Ben Jeffries, CEO of Influencer. “The exciting thing this report shows? The ad industry excites creators. They want to know more. How they fit into the marketing mix, what campaigns are individually trying to achieve, and what are the KPIs? What does success look like?”
The research, conducted in partnership with cultural insights firm Crowd DNA, analyzed 560,000 English-language posts across social platforms and surveyed 500 creators from various regions and audience sizes to develop these insights.
Get the full report here.