The influencer advertising industry has grown by an impressive 355% over the past five years, becoming one of the leading online marketing channels. According to data presented by AugustaFreePress.com, brands will spend a whopping USD 32.5bn on influencer advertising in 2023, 18% more than this year.
Despite initial concerns that influencer marketing might shrink due to Covid-19, the industry boomed in the past three years. The growth of the entire market was also fuelled by increased usage of ad blocking tools, with the average global desktop ad blocking rate sitting above 43%.
According to a Statista survey, total ad spending in the influencer marketing industry has more than doubled since 2019, rising from USD 11.6bn to USD 27.5bn. Furthermore, companies and brands are expected to spend USD 5bn more on influencer ads next year.
Chinese and US brands account for over two-thirds of total ad spending or USD 20.1bn in 2022. Chinese brands will spend USD 15.7bn on influencer ads this year, four times more than US companies.
The US market will grow by 15% year-over-year, with total ad spending rising from USD 4.25bn to USD 4.92bn in 2023. The UK influencer marketing industry, the third-largest globally, will see total ad spending grow by 18% YoY to USD 1.1bn.
Last year there were 18,900 companies worldwide offering services related to influencer marketing, 30% more than in 2020. One-third of them were from the United States.
Europe had the second-largest number of companies, or 5,600 in 2021, up from 4,500 a year before. Another 4,000 companies offering influencer marketing services, or 25% of the total, were from the Asia-Pacific region.
