Why influencer marketing will become even more important in the future
A new report by Kolsquare examined the current state of influencer marketing in Europe and found that German companies spend the most on this form of advertising—yet pay the least attention to ethical considerations of all.
Influencer marketing is considered an elementary component of the marketing mix - and the trend continues to grow. The 2024 European Influencer Marketing Report by Kolsquare shows that Spending on influencer marketing continues to rise. European brands spend an average of around 3.375 million euros on influencer marketing each year, while German companies are above the average with an average of 5.74 million euros.
Micro-influencers are particularly popular. 75% of the marketing experts surveyed cooperate with creators who have between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. Instagram remains the most popular platform. This is where 89% of campaigns are run, while Tiktok and YouTube are similarly strong (64% and 62% of campaigns respectively). Markets such as the UK and Italy in particular continue to be strongly represented on Facebook.
Increasing importance in the marketing mix
The importance of influencer marketing in the marketing mix continues to grow: 27% of respondents stated this, and 6% even expect it to account for the majority of their marketing expenditure. The number of partnerships is also growing: while most brands, 63%, say they work with fewer than 50 influencers on an annual basis, there are signs that brands are starting to expand their campaigns significantly. 19 percent of brands in the UK and 20 percent in Spain say they work with up to 1,000 key partners per year. However, companies are becoming more selective in their choice and are also paying increasing attention to ethical factors: 63% systematically include them in contracts and 33% require the signing of an ethics charter. This is an important factor in the selection process, particularly in Italy and France.
This is the situation in Germany
According to the analysis, German companies spend the most on influencer marketing at 5.74 million euros annually, compared to 848,000 pounds (1.137 million US dollars) in the UK and 3.375 million euros on average in all other countries. German companies have increased their budgets for influencer marketing more than companies in any other country - and plan to continue to do so. And: these companies are the least likely of all countries to take ethical behavior and corresponding content transparency into account when selecting influencers.
Here you can download the study.
