Nearly two-thirds (61%) of marketing bosses are planning to hike their creator budgets this year, despite the fact that they appear to have absolutely no idea if they are getting their money’s worth.

So says Kantar’s “2026 Marketing Trends” report, which highlights what it describes as “a foundational measurement challenge” in creator marketing. Engagement indicators remain widely used, but the firm argues they offer limited insight into business outcomes.

Within the past few years, the industry has grown at breakneck speed. In 2024, the UK influencer market reached a valuation of £1.8bn, with head-turning projections suggesting it could grow at a 29.5% annual rate to reach over £17.8bn by 2033.

However, it seems the industry is simply “flying blind”. The report states: “Engagement, likes, and views aren’t meaningful outcomes,” claiming that influencer-led campaigns that do not drive sales or build a brand, are just vanity projects.

That is not all; the report goes on to expose the fact that many creators are failing to even mention the brands who are supporting  them, with only 27% of creator content actually having strong ties to the sponsoring brand.

It suggests the crux of the problem is that brands are terrified of the “talent”, triggering a bitter tug-of-war between marketers and “diva” creators. “Creators are not actors – they do their own thing,” the report warns, adding that to make it work, brands must stop acting like control freaks and start “co-creating” or risk their ads looking like total fakes.

Taken together, the findings suggest that rising investment and unresolved measurement challenges are increasing pressure on the creator marketing industry to formalise its practices.

Kantar’s research frames 2026 as a period in which creator content is expected to demonstrate clearer links to business outcomes in order to sustain long-term budget growth.

The report concludes: “CMOs must set clear guardrails for creator content, solidify and share success metrics, then let creators do what they do best – in ways that manifest the brand’s meaningful difference. The fix is structural: 2026 needs a shift from isolated creator executions to long-term creative platforms, or clustered themes, that align brand and creator-led content.”

Even so, the Kantar report flies in the face of a recent IPA analysis, which claimed the discipline is delivering strong returns, particularly over the long term. The findings were drawn from the sector’s first-ever cross-industry Influencer Database, spanning 220 campaigns from 144 brands across 36 sectors and 28 markets, and capturing over £133m in influencer spend.

Key analysis of the influencer marketing data revealed that the short-term ROI of influencer marketing is comparable with all channel averages.

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