Influencer activations have lost space among brands, with influencer marketing dropping 19 percentage points in advertisers’ media mix from 2023 to 2024. Despite this devaluation, the return on investment (ROI) for influencers is the only one trending upwards, with double-digit percentage growth year over year. These findings are part of the study conducted by martech Uncover.
The research evaluated 11 brands from different sectors with at least one Marketing Mix Modeling (predictive modeling for marketing data optimization) model, from January 2022 to May 2024. The results range from the low strategic clarity of advertisers with influencer marketing to underutilization of influencers by brands.
Lack of strategy in influencer actions…
The survey found that half of advertisers engage in influencer marketing, but only 4% of the media budget of those who do is allocated to this type of activation. It is even more striking that 70% of advertisers do not define a specific funnel strategy for influencer marketing actions. Among those who perform activations with a defined objective, awareness ranks first, followed by conversion.
…Room to invest more in influence
In addition to having a small share of the media budget, influencer marketing is executed below what is necessary to generate significant returns. The analysis indicates that advertisers should invest 23% more in this type of strategy, which brings to the digital realm a power equivalent to the ad stock effectiveness of offline media.
The long-term effect of influencer marketing, in fact, is higher and more prolonged than that of offline media, with a decline only from the fourth week after the media is aired. The peak of influencer ad stock mainly focuses on the second week after airing.
The return on investment from influencers is the only one trending upwards, with double-digit percentage increases year over year. From 2023 to 2024, influencer ROI grew by 51%; from 2022 to 2023, it rose by 68%. However, investment in influencers has been decreasing year over year, leading to missed opportunities to leverage media mix efficiency.
