Influencer marketing: Most brands don't worry about security measures, while investment in the sector continues to rise.

Influencer marketing continues to expand rapidly, but according to a new report by eMarketer in partnership with Viral Nation, this growth is not always accompanied by robust brand safety practices. By 2025, influencer budgets are projected to have increased by 151%, reaching US$10.52 billion, with 86% of marketers already utilizing this channel. Despite this, 77.81% of respondents report that concerns about brand safety impact their willingness to invest. 

Selv om de fleste bedrifter øker investeringene – 70,91 % av respondentene planlegger å øke influencer-utgifter de neste tre årene – ser bare 30,11 % influencer-markedsføring som "veldig sikker", og 55,41 % ser det som "noe trygt, men med forbehold". I praksis kommer resultater og umiddelbare effekter foran bekymringer om sikkerhet: Når de vurderer kampanjer, prioriterer merkene ytelse (27,41 %), engasjement (23,11 %), innholdskvalitet (15,41 %) og demografisk rekkevidde (12,81 %), mens merkevaressikkerhet kun prioriteres med 11,11 %. 

O relatório aponta lacunas concretas nos processos de verificação: apenas 9,41% das marcas terceirizam totalmente a verificação de criadores, e 81,21% ainda fazem algum tipo de revisão manual de conteúdo. Mais preocupante: mais de 50% dos profissionais gastam 30 minutos ou menos para analisar um influenciador — um esforço que, segundo a Viral Nation, cobre em média apenas 0,011% do histórico de conteúdo do criador, insuficiente para analisar riscos reputacionais de forma abrangente. As maiores dores citadas são: tempo excessivo da checagem (38,51%), dificuldade de monitoramento contínuo (34,21%) e falta de ferramentas de automação (28,21%). Apenas 9,11% descrevem seu processo atual como “muito escalável”. 

"Markesikkerhet (Brand safety) 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 Fábio 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-term strategy: "There's a race for results that often overlooks fundamental aspects like safety and reputation. Brands want to appear 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 the combined use of technology and human review to signal risks. It's not just about rejecting creators, it's about aligning expectations, establishing contractual clauses that anticipate reputation and creating mitigation plans. This protects brands and also preserves the creators' careers."

According to the report, the path forward includes continuous monitoring, AI-powered security verification tools, and greater transparency among the parties – recommendations already adopted by Viral Nation itself. Executive Nicolas Spiro suggests using AI to identify large-scale risk indicators, leaving the final decision to humans; Gonçalves adds the agency's operational approach:

In Viral Nation, we're investing in technology that allows us to quickly map large volumes of content, 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 emphasizes the essential role of market education: "We need standardized language and expectations: what 'brand safe' means to one brand may be different for another. The industry needs a common vocabulary and shared KPIs so that brands, agencies, and platforms speak the same language."

METODOLOGIA

Il rapporto EMARKETER + Viral Nation è stato elaborato a partire da un sondaggio su 117 professionisti del marketing statunitensi e dall'analisi delle tendenze di spesa e delle pratiche di verifica nell'ecosistema dei creator. Immagini e dati dello studio sono disponibili al seguente 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.