New forecast: US influencer marketing is now a $3 billion-plus industry

US influencer marketing spending will rise by 33.6% in 2021 to $3.69 billion. Our inaugural forecast shows that US marketers will allocate nearly $1 billion more to influencer marketing this year than they did in 2020, representing the strongest spending growth in the industry since 2019. Growth will continue in double-digits until 2023, when spending on influencer marketing campaigns will approach $5 billion.

The strong spending growth comes after a year of influencer marketing budget cuts. Close to two-thirds of US marketers worked with influencer marketing last year, up from 55.4% in 2019. But as the pandemic put a strain on marketers’ budgets—particularly in the early part of 2020—many were forced to pause campaigns or cut influencers’ paychecks, slowing spending growth. And many marketers who worked with influencer marketing last year did so by amplifying influencer content in their paid media campaigns. Our forecast excludes spending on paid media campaigns with influencers.