eMarketer: Influencer marketing spend to hit $3.69 billion; leading platform is…

Marketers in the United States will spend nearly $1 billion more on influencer marketing this year than they did in 2020.

U.S. influencer marketing spending will rise by 33.6% in 2021 to $3.69 billion,  strongest spending growth in the industry since 2019, according to a forecast by eMarketer. Growth will continue in double-digits until 2023, when spending on influencer marketing campaigns will approach $5 billion. (The eMarketer forecast excludes spending on paid media campaigns with influencers.)

Instagram is the leading influencer marketing platform, reported eMarketer, which estimated that Instagram accounts for roughly half of the market. A significant portion of spending also goes to influencer campaigns on YouTube and Facebook. TikTok is still a small — but growing — slice of the influencer marketing spending pie.

Close to two-thirds of U.S. marketers worked with influencer marketing last year, up from 55.4% in 2019, the eMarketer report said. 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.

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