UK Creator Partnership Revenue to Top £1bn for the First Time, IAB UK Finds
TL;DR: IAB UK's first study of the creator-partnerships market projects £1.217bn in UK creator revenue in 2026 — the first time the category has passed £1bn, up 26% on 2025.
A £1bn Milestone With Its First Yardstick
The IAB UK, working with the Institute for Advertising and Media Statistics, has published the first industry measurement of the UK creator-partnerships market. It projects £1.217bn of UK creator revenue in 2026, up roughly 26% on the £966m recorded in 2025.
That 2025 figure was itself up 20.1% on the £804m of 2024. Crucially, this is the first time the category has been sized with a shared methodology rather than estimated — a signal that creator marketing has graduated from experiment to measured media channel.
Small Slice, Fast Growth
Creator partnerships accounted for just 2.4% of the UK's £40.5bn total ad spend in 2025. But the category is growing far faster than the wider digital market's 9.6%, which is exactly why finance directors are starting to pay attention.
Intent data backs the trajectory: 93% of UK brands and agencies expect to increase influencer spend over the next 12 months, and 31% plan to grow the number of creators they work with by at least 50%.
From Reach to Revenue
Half of surveyed brands say influencer marketing drives up to 25% of marketing-attributed revenue, and 55% cite short-form video as the single biggest opportunity ahead. The story is no longer awareness for its own sake; it is measurable contribution.
That shift comes with a catch. As the channel scales past £1bn, the same scrutiny applied to paid search and social will follow — attribution, brand safety and creator vetting all become board-level questions.
Marketing Minute's Take
Treat creator spend like a media line, not a favour. Now that the category has a benchmark, the brands that win will be the ones with a defined measurement framework before they scale budgets — not after a CFO asks what the £1bn bought.
Quick FAQ
How big is the UK creator marketing market?
IAB UK projects £1.217bn in UK creator partnership revenue for 2026, up from £966m in 2025 and £804m in 2024 — the first year it has been formally measured and the first time it has passed £1bn.
Why does the £1bn figure matter for marketers?
A shared measurement standard turns creator spend from a discretionary line item into a benchmarked media channel, which raises expectations around ROI, attribution and creator vetting.
Are brands planning to spend more on creators?
Yes — 93% of surveyed UK brands and agencies expect to increase influencer spend over the next 12 months, and 31% plan to grow their creator rosters by at least 50%.
A number this big changes the conversation in the boardroom. Once creators sit on the same spreadsheet as search and social, they get held to the same standard. The brands that thrive won't be the ones spending most — they'll be the ones who can prove what the spend returned. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
The takeaway: creator marketing just became a measured £1bn channel — build your attribution framework before you scale the budget, not after.
Do you measure creator partnerships with the same rigour as your paid search and social?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Marketing Week, InPublishing, Decision Marketing (IAB UK / IRM data).
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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