Influence marketing: Most brands don't care about security measures, while investment in the sector only increases

Influencer marketing continues its rapid expansion, but according to a new report from eMarketer in partnership with Viral Nation, this growth isn't always accompanied by robust brand safety practices. By 2025, influencer marketing budgets have already risen to $10.52 billion, with 86% of marketers utilizing this channel. Despite this, 77.8% of respondents report that brand safety concerns influence their willingness to invest. 

Although most companies are increasing investment — 70.91% of respondents plan to increase influencer marketing spending over the next three years — only 30.11% consider influencer marketing “very safe,” and 55.41% see it as “somewhat safe, but with reservations.” In practice, performance and immediate results outweigh safety concerns: when evaluating campaigns, brands prioritize performance (27.41%), engagement rate (23.11%), content quality (15.41%), and demographic reach (12.81%), while brand safety only represents 11.11% of their priorities. 

The report highlights concrete gaps in verification processes: only 9.41% of brands fully outsource creator verification, and 81.21% still perform some type of manual content review. More concerning: over 50% of professionals spend 30 minutes or less analyzing an influencer—an effort that, according to Viral Nation, covers an average of 0.011% of the creator's content history, insufficient for comprehensively analyzing reputational risks. The biggest pain points cited are: excessive verification time (38.51%), difficulty in continuous monitoring (34.21%), and lack of automation tools (28.21%). Only 9.11% describe their current process as "highly scalable". 

“Brand safety “(Brand security) has become reactive instead of proactive,” says Nicolas Spiro, Chief Commercial Officer From Viral Nation, cited in the report: “Instead of building comprehensive protection systems, many teams end up relying on good faith.” 

For Fabio Gonçalves, director of Brazilian and North American talent at Viral Nation, the numbers clearly show that prioritizing only immediate results without protective processes is a short-sighted strategy: “There's a rush for results that often overlooks fundamental aspects like safety and reputation. Brands want to be where the audience is, but ignoring brand safety protocols can lead to greater losses in the long run. An influencer isn't just a channel: they carry values, communities, and narratives, and this needs to be filtered.”

He recommends practical and realistic measures (without turning agencies into clinical providers): “The market needs consistent processes: verification that analyzes photos, videos, and partnership history; continuous monitoring; clear documentation delivered to clients; and combined use of technology and human review to flag risks. It's not just about rejecting creators, it's about aligning expectations, establishing contractual clauses that foresee reputational risks, and creating mitigation plans. This protects brands and also preserves creators' careers.”

According to the report, the path forward includes continuous monitoring, AI-powered security verification tools, and greater transparency between parties—recommendations that Viral Nation has already adopted. Executive Nicolas Spiro suggests using AI to highlight large-scale risk signals, leaving the final decision to humans; Gonçalves adds the agency's operational approach:

"At Viral Nation, we're investing in technology that allows us to map large volumes of content quickly, but also in human processes to contextualize signals. We offer verification documentation when brands require it, apply reputation filters, guide creators on positioning risks, and include contractual clauses that protect both parties. Our goal is to ensure campaigns perform without exposing the brand to unwanted associations," he says.

He also emphasizes that market education is essential: "We need to standardize language and expectations: what 'brand safe' means to one brand can be different for another. The industry needs a common vocabulary and shared KPIs so that brands, agencies, and platforms speak the same language."

METHODOLOGY

The EMARKETER + Viral Nation report was developed based on a survey of 117 US marketing professionals and analysis of spending trends and verification practices within the creator ecosystem. Images and data from the study are available at the following link: https://cloud.insight.insiderintelligence.com/20250909-ViralNation-CustomReport_RegPageProgPro?utm_source=1P-HTML-Personal&j=236718&sfmc_sub=8654010&l=826_HTML&u=7306189&mid=534006916&jb=6003&jid=236718&sid=8654010.