More than half of brands will pay YouTubers to market their products this year

The creator industry is a $250 billion ecosystem–and this year, it’s expected to rake in over $10 billion in influencer marketing spend.

Market research company eMarketer says it originally didn’t expect spend on influencer marketing to hit $10 billion until 2026. But things are ahead of schedule thanks to brands “fully commit[ting] to influencer marketing” in 2024, it wrote in its latest report.

“We now estimate that influencer marketing spending rose by 23.7%, which is an upgrade from our previous 2024 growth forecast of 16.0%,” it said.

It anticipates that in 2025, brands will spend $1.37 billion more than last year, pushing total spend to $10.52 billion.

We already know, of course, that creators across all platforms are capable of securing content deals. YouTubers, TikTokers, Twitch streamers, Instagrammers, and Snapchatters are all capable of scooping up deals with brands looking to reach audiences in different niches. Of these platforms, though, there are three dominants: YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

eMarketer expects that in 2025, brands will spend the most on YouTube: $3.45 billion. In second place is Instagram with $3.17 billion in spend, and in third place is TikTok, with $1.19 billion.

If you’re noticing that’s quite the gap between YouTube and TikTok, well…you’re right. While we would say YouTube and TikTok each have significant sway in the digital video economy, with one as a long-form king and the other as short-form ruler, there’s a clear winner when it comes to who’s attracting more influencer marketing spend.

And yeah, it’s YouTube. In 2025, eMarketer expects more than half of U.S. marketers to pay for influencer advertising on YouTube. That’s the very first time this will happen.

eMarketer partially attributes this growth, and the gap between YouTube and TikTok’s spend, to the continued uncertainty around TikTok’s future. TikTok’s battle against the ban has now stretched over three separate presidencies, and though current in-office Donald Trump seems inclined to allow a bigger grace period for owner ByteDance to divest, it’s still not a sure that thing that ByteDance will divest and that TikTok will be allowed to continue stateside operations.

This uncertainty is affecting brands, eMarketer said, and making them more leery of working with TikTok-based creators.

“Fewer marketers are thinking TikTok-first,” Jasmine Enberg, eMarketer’s Vice President and Principal Analyst, said in the report. “They’re hesitant to sign on TikTok-only creators in case the platform goes dark again. Creators are actively building their communities on other platforms, including those where they feel they have more control over their audiences, content and monetization opportunities.”

But that’s not the only reason YouTube is on top.

“Even prior to TikTok’s troubles, the conversation was growing around YouTube,” Enberg added. “As brands and creators prioritize more predictable content, longer-term relationships, and storytelling over trends and ad-hoc sponsorships, YouTube is quickly becoming the place to be for brands and creators.”

Despite that, eMarketer expects all three top platforms–YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok–to see their influencer marketing spend go up by about ~17% year over year in 2025. It also expects overall influencer marketing spend to grow another 15.7% in 2026.

“Any spending disruptions in 2025,” Enberg said, “will likely be temporary.”