- New research by Billion Dollar Boy finds that marketers are extensively investing in creator marketing with UK marketers (33%) typically spending between £764K – £2.3M ($1M-$3M) annually.
- Scaling investment comes with challenges, as one in three marketers say that ‘managing relationships at scale and ensuring creator preference for the brand’s partnerships’ is their top concern in growing creator marketing efforts.
- Marketers are predominantly turning to specialist creator marketing agencies to assist in navigating these challenges, with only 1% of marketers managing influencer activity in-house.
London, UK, 2nd July 2025 – With the global creator marketing industry projected to grow in value by 36% this year, new independent research by global, creator-first social agency, Billion Dollar Boy, reveals that more than half (52%) of UK marketers are now investing in excess of £765K ($1M) annually in creator marketing.
As investment scales up, the research reveals marketers’ preferred agency partners to navigate a more complex and competitive creator economy, while also revealing the most common challenges they face, which threaten to limit the channel’s full creative and commercial potential.
Marketers Invest in Creator Marketing at Scale
The research, which surveyed 2,000 senior marketing professionals across the UK and US, found that brands have moved beyond experimenting with creator marketing, and are now investing extensively.
UK marketers (33%) typically spend between £764K – £2.3M on creator marketing annually, with US marketers matching their investment, with a similar proportion (34%) spending between $1M – $3M annually. However, US marketers are more likely to make bolder financial commitments, with 37% investing over $3M (£2.3M), compared to 19% of UK respondents.
Top Challenges Marketers Face When Growing Investment
With increased investment comes operational complexity. One in three marketers cite ‘managing relationships at scale and ensuring creator preference for the brand’s partnerships’ (33.58%) and ‘maintaining authentic, high quality content and consistent brand messaging’ (33.88%) as their top concerns. This reveals a tension at the heart of modern creator marketing: how to preserve authenticity and intimacy while scaling operations. Other common concerns include:
- Finding the right insight, strategy and creative expertise: 31%
- Identifying and vetting the right influencers at scale: 29%
- Proving effectiveness against business objectives: 28%
- Navigating platform changes and new social media trends: 26%
- Budget management and supplier negotiations: 24%
- Handling due diligence, compliance and legal requirements: 23%
UK marketers are more concerned about ‘managing relationships at scale and ensuring creator preference for the brand’s partnerships’, with 36% of UK respondents agreeing it’s a top concern compared to 31% in the US.
Meanwhile, US marketers are particularly concerned about ‘navigating platform changes and social media trends’, possibly reflecting TikTok’s uncertain future in the United States, with 27% citing it as a top challenge compared to 24% in the UK.
In both markets, operational challenges including ‘handling creator payments’ (14%) and ‘scaling globally or across regions’ (19%) ranked among the least of their concerns, indicating that while strategic alignment remains a barrier for many, the infrastructure around creator marketing is improving.
Marketers Rely on Agency Support
Contrary to a growing narrative suggesting that brands are increasingly managing creator marketing in-house, the research shows that fewer than 1% of marketers manage creator activity without agency support.
Instead, brands are leaning into specialist agency partnerships to scale with intention. The most commonly used agency partners include:
- Creator Marketing Agency: 29%
- Social Media Agency: 26%
- Creative Agency: 15%
Regional preferences are clear, with UK marketers more likely to rely on creative agencies (21% compared to 12% in the US), while US marketers are much more likely to rely on creator marketing agencies (38% compared to just 19% in the UK).
As brands scale their creator marketing investment, they’re increasingly seeking agencies that offer more than logistical support, they want strategic partners who provide creative leadership aligned with brand values, robust creator networks, rigorous vetting processes and expert teams to effectively manage and measure campaigns.
Discussing the research, Ed East, CEO of Billion Dollar Boy, comments: “Our research shows a sustained and growing confidence in creator marketing, with marketers spending extensively each year. It signals that creator marketing is no longer an emerging channel but the frontline of brand-building, where narratives are shaped, trust is earned, and culture is created. But as investment scales, so do the challenges – particularly around managing creator relationships at scale, as well as maintaining authenticity and consistent brand messaging.
“This study reveals a clear operational gap and it’s holding some brands back from experiencing the full creative and commercial potential of this channel. The solution isn’t choosing between scale and authenticity – it’s building the infrastructure to deliver both.
“Creators can provide emotional connection and commercial results – but only if the strategy, systems, and teams are aligned. To succeed in a growing and increasingly competitive creator economy, marketers need to identify a framework that supports fast, confident execution for their brand and partner with specialists who can deliver performance, trust, and cultural relevance at scale. That’s the business of influence.”
Methodology
In November 2024, Censuswide was commissioned by Billion Dollar Boy to execute a study of 2,000 marketing and procurement professionals (18+) in the US and UK (1,000 per market). Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles.
About Billion Dollar Boy
Billion Dollar Boy (BDB) is a global, creator-first social agency delivering award-winning, integrated influencer marketing campaigns.
Since 2014, BDB has partnered with some of the world’s most iconic brands – including Heineken, Nike, Unilever, PepsiCo, and L’Oréal – to deliver best-in-class, creator-led advertising at scale. Powered by proprietary, AI-powered technology and data-driven insights, our end-to-end campaign management spans strategy, creative, production, paid media, and execution.
Our client work has been awarded by Cannes Lions, the Global Influencer Marketing Awards, the Drum, Webby Awards, and Shorty Awards.
In 2025, Billion Dollar Boy was named Social Media Agency of the Year at the Global Agency Awards and was featured in the Financial Times’ list of the 1000 fastest-growing companies in Europe for a record fifth consecutive year.