Influencer Marketing: Most Brands Don't Worry About Security Measures, While Investment in the Sector Continues to Rise

Influencer marketing continues to expand, but according to a new report by eMarketer in partnership with Viral Nation, this growth is not always accompanied by robust brand security practices. In 2025, budgets for the influencer sector have already risen 15%, reaching US$ 10.52 billion, with 86% of marketers already using this channel. Despite this, 77,8% of respondents report that concerns about brand safety influence their willingness to invest. 

Although most companies are increasing investments 70.9% respondents plan to increase spending on influencers in the next three years 30.1% only consider influencer marketing “very safe” and 55.4% see it as “algo safe, but with” caveats. In practice, performance and immediate results follow in front of security concerns: when evaluating campaigns, brands prioritize performance (27.4%), engagement rate (23,%), content quality (15,413, reach13T, demographics (13T). 

The report points out concrete gaps in the verification processes: only 9.4% of the brands totally outsource the verification of creators, and 81.2% still do some kind of manual review of content. More worrying: more than 50% of the professionals spend 30 minutes or less to analyze an influencer 81,2% effort that, according to Viral Nation, covers on average 0.01% of the content history of the creator, insufficient to analyze reputational risks comprehensively. Only the greatest pains cited are: excessive time of the checking (38,513TP 23TP).3Tp3.3Tp3).13.3.3tp.3.3.3Tp.3. 

“Brand safety (Brand Security) has become reactive rather than proactive,”, says Nicolas Spiro Chief Commercial Officer from Viral Nation, cited in the report.“Instead of building comprehensive protection systems, many teams end up betting on good faith.” 

For Fabio Goncalves, director of Brazilian and American talent at Viral Nation, the numbers make it clear that prioritizing only immediate results without protection processes is a short-term strategy: “There is a race for results that often leaves aside fundamental aspects such as safety and reputation. Brands want to appear where the public is, but ignoring brand safety protocols can generate greater losses in the long term.The influencer is not just a channel: it carries 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 customers; and combined use of technology and human review to signal risks.It is not only about refusing creators, it is about aligning expectations, establishing contractual clauses that predict reputation and create mitigation plans. This protects brands and also preserves the career of” creators.

According to the report, the way forward includes continuous monitoring, AI security verification tools and greater transparency between the parties (recommendations that Viral Nation itself has already adopted.Executive Nicolas Spiro suggests that AI be used to point out signs of risk on a large scale, leaving the human the final decision; Goncalves complements with the agency's operational approach:

“Na Viral Nation, we are 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 insert contractual clauses that protect both parties. Our goal is to ensure that campaigns perform without exposing the brand to unwanted associations”, he says.

He also points out that market education is essential: “We need to standardize language and expectations: what it means ''Brand safe’ for one brand may be different for another. The industry needs a common vocabulary and shared KPIs for brands, agencies and platforms to speak the same language”.

METHODOLOGY

The EMARKETER + Viral Nation report was drawn from a survey of 117 U. S. marketers and analysis of spending trends and verification practices in the creators ecosystem 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.