Influencer Marketing Trends 2027: What Brands Need to Know

The biggest influencer marketing trends heading into 2027 are bigger budgets, creator content moving into paid media, AI as everyday infrastructure (with new EU labelling rules), stricter disclosure enforcement and a growing premium on trusted, recognisable faces. In short: influencer marketing is no longer a side experiment. It is becoming a core media channel – and it is being measured and regulated like one.

Below we go through the trends we see in the data and in our own work at Collabri, what is driving them and what they mean for brands planning campaigns for the coming year.

What is already decided or forecast for 2027?

Several of the trends below are driven by dates and forecasts that are already known. These are the most important ones for 2027:

• 2 February 2027: the last deferred technical requirements under Article 50 of the EU AI Act apply, completing the transparency rules that already apply.

• EU rules for influencer marketing are being prepared: the European Commission plans to propose a Digital Fairness Act before 2027, and influencer marketing is one of the areas it is expected to regulate.

• Spend keeps growing: EMARKETER forecasts US influencer marketing spend of 13.7 billion dollars in 2027 and US social commerce sales of nearly 119 billion dollars.

• Creator commerce goes mainstream: 48 percent of brands have integrated creator commerce into their strategy, according to CreatorIQ’s latest State of Creator Marketing report.

The forecasts come from the latest reports and may change, but they point in the same direction: influencer marketing in 2027 will be bigger, more regulated and more closely tied to sales.

Is influencer marketing still growing?

Yes – and faster than most other media. The IAB estimated that US creator economy ad spend would reach 37 billion dollars in 2025, a 26 percent increase year over year and roughly four times faster than the media industry overall, and its latest forecast is 44 billion dollars for the following year. Nearly half (48 percent) of US ad buyers now describe creators as a “must buy”, ranked only behind social media and paid search.

Budgets are following. In Influencer Marketing Hub’s latest Benchmark Report, 87 percent of respondents said they expect their influencer budgets to increase, and 72 percent expect increases of 50 percent or more. CreatorIQ’s latest State of Creator Marketing report shows that the average annual creator marketing investment has reached 4.8 million dollars, up 33 percent year over year, and that 66 percent of organisations increased their investment.

The long-term picture points the same way. Goldman Sachs Research has estimated that the creator economy could approach 480 billion dollars by 2027, up from around 250 billion dollars in 2023, with brand deals as creators’ main revenue source.

Which influencer marketing trends will matter most in 2027?

1. Creator content becomes paid media creative

The line between influencer marketing and advertising is disappearing. According to CreatorIQ’s Creator-Powered Funnel report, creator content already makes up 44 percent of brands’ paid media creative on average, and 77 percent of paid media marketers say creator content outperforms traditional branded ads. Linqia’s latest State of Influencer Marketing report found that all surveyed enterprise marketers repurpose influencer content beyond the creator’s own channel.

For brands, this means usage rights, formats and paid amplification need to be part of the plan from day one – not something negotiated after the content has been published. It is the same logic we used when Fazer Domino launched in Sweden: organic creator content and paid strategy were planned together, which helped the campaign reach more than 3.5 million views and 14,000 interactions.

2. AI becomes infrastructure – and gets regulated

AI is now part of almost every influencer programme. CreatorIQ reports that 95 percent of brand respondents use AI, most often for captions, research and editing. At the same time, the IAB found that 95 percent of advertisers have concerns about AI in creator marketing, with “loss of human connection” as the top worry.

In the EU, the transparency rules in Article 50 of the AI Act now apply, requiring deepfakes and certain AI-generated content to be clearly disclosed, with the last deferred technical marking obligations applying from 2 February 2027. Expect AI to speed up production and analysis behind the scenes, while the faces in front of the camera become more valuable precisely because they are real.

3. Disclosure enforcement gets stricter

In Sweden, the government gave the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket) a specific assignment in 2025 to report on and strengthen its supervision of influencer marketing. Its latest report concluded that there are still major shortcomings: the law is only partly followed, hidden marketing remains a problem and marketing aimed at children and young people should be a supervision priority. Companies carry the main responsibility for marketing published on their behalf, and serious violations can lead to a market disruption fee of up to four percent of annual turnover.

4. Measurement grows up

Brands want proof. The IAB reports that 40 percent of buyers name overall ROI as their primary KPI for creator campaigns, while Linqia found that 79 percent of marketers still struggle to measure ROI. The good news is that confidence is rising: in CreatorIQ’s latest State of Creator Marketing report, 48 percent of brands report a return of three times or more, up from 37 percent the year before. Promo codes, affiliate links and native shop features are the most common tracking tools according to Influencer Marketing Hub.

5. Fewer one-offs, more long-term partnerships

Sprout Social reports that 71 percent of influencers offer discounts for multi-post or long-term partnerships, and creators increasingly want to be involved in creative planning early. Long-term deals make content more credible and production more efficient – and they make it easier to build recognition over time.

6. Video formats keep winning

Short-form video is still the workhorse, but long-form is back. In Influencer Marketing Hub’s latest Benchmark Report, 83 percent ranked long-form video and 80 percent ranked short-form video among their three most effective formats. HubSpot’s latest State of Marketing report found that short-form video is the format marketers most often credit with the biggest ROI.

7. Trusted faces become a competitive advantage

As feeds fill up with AI content and scam ads, trust becomes scarce. Internetstiftelsen’s report Svenskarna och internet 2025 found that 60 percent of Swedes had seen a fraudulent ad on social media in the past year. A real, verified partnership with a personality the audience already knows and likes stands out in that environment.

Recognisable personalities also make it easier to create content people actually choose to watch. When Carolina Gynning and Carina Berg took on the Tough Viking obstacle race for Ellos, the humorous concept reached more than 756,000 views – entertainment first, with the brand as a natural part of the story. We expect more brands to invest in formats like this, where the personality’s own tone carries the message.

What should brands do now?

• Plan organic and paid together – and secure usage rights for paid media in the contract.

• Set business KPIs before the campaign starts and decide how they will be tracked.

• Use AI for analysis and efficiency, but be transparent and follow the AI Act’s disclosure rules.

• Make ad labelling clear and visible at first glance on every platform.

• Build a few long-term relationships rather than many one-off posts.

• Combine reach and trust: well-known personalities for attention, creators for depth and volume.

Key takeaways

• Creator ad spend is growing far faster than the overall media market, and most brands plan to increase budgets.

• Creator content is becoming core paid media creative, not just organic posts.

• AI is everywhere behind the scenes, while EU rules now require transparency about AI-generated content.

• Swedish authorities are stepping up supervision of ad labelling in influencer marketing.

• Trusted, recognisable faces become more valuable as feeds fill up with synthetic and fraudulent content.

Frequently asked questions

What is the biggest influencer marketing trend right now?

The integration of creator content into paid media. Creator content now makes up a large share of brands’ paid creative, which means influencer marketing is planned, bought and measured more like any other media channel.

Will AI influencers replace human influencers?

The data so far suggests not. Many large advertisers are cautious about virtual influencers because of consumer trust, and EU rules now require transparency about AI-generated content. AI is mainly used to make work with human creators more efficient.

Are celebrities still relevant in influencer marketing?

Yes. Well-known personalities deliver fast reach and instant recognition, which is valuable for launches and awareness. The strongest campaigns often combine a recognisable face with creators who add depth and volume.

How should a Swedish brand prepare for 2027?

Start with clear goals, plan organic and paid distribution together, make sure ad labelling follows the Marketing Act, and build long-term partnerships with profiles whose audiences match your target group.

Collabri helps brands plan and run influencer campaigns with some of Sweden’s best-known personalities, from concept and talent to production and paid media. Want to talk about your plans for 2027? Contact us at info@collabri.se.

Sources

• IAB – Creator Economy Ad Spend to Reach $37 Billion in 2025, Growing 4x Faster than Total Media Industry (2025): https://www.iab.com/news/creator-economy-ad-spend-to-reach-37-billion-in-2025-growing-4x-faster-than-total-media-industry-according-to-iab/

• Influencer Marketing Hub – Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2026 (2026): https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report/

• CreatorIQ – State of Creator Marketing 2026–2027 (2026): https://www.creatoriq.com/white-papers/state-of-creator-marketing-trends-2027

• CreatorIQ – Creator Content Now Powers 44% of Paid Media Creative (2026): https://www.creatoriq.com/press/releases/creator-powered-funnel-report-2026

• CreatorIQ – Creator Marketing Enters the Era of Efficacy (2025): https://www.creatoriq.com/press/releases/creator-marketing-enters-the-era-of-efficacy-brands-demand-scalable-roi-as-creator-budgets-surge-171-creatoriq-report-finds

• Goldman Sachs – The creator economy could approach half-a-trillion dollars by 2027 (2023): https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/the-creator-economy-could-approach-half-a-trillion-dollars-by-2027

• Linqia – 2026 State of Influencer Marketing (2026): https://www.linqia.com/2026-state-of-influencer-marketing/

• Sprout Social – Influencer marketing trends 2026 (2026): https://sproutsocial.com/insights/influencer-marketing-trends/

• HubSpot – 2026 State of Marketing (2026): https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/hubspot-blog-marketing-industry-trends-report

• Paul, Weiss – EU Finalises Transparency Rules for AI-Generated Content (2026): https://www.paulweiss.com/insights/client-memos/eu-finalises-transparency-rules-for-ai-generated-content

• Konsumentverket – Fortsatt stora brister i marknadsföring som sker genom influencers (2026): https://www.konsumentverket.se/nyhet/fortsatt-stora-brister-i-marknadsforing-som-sker-genom-influencers/

• Konsumentverket – Influencers reklaminlägg – regler för företag: https://www.konsumentverket.se/marknadsratt-foretag/influencers-reklaminlagg-regler-for-foretag/

• Internetstiftelsen – Svenskarna och internet 2025: Annonsbedrägerier (2025): https://svenskarnaochinternet.se/rapporter/svenskarna-och-internet-2025/annonsbedragerier/

• IAB – Digital Ad Revenue Climbs to Nearly $300B as IAB Celebrates 30 Year Anniversary (2026): https://www.iab.com/news/digital-ad-revenue-climbs-to-nearly-300b-as-iab-celebrates-30-year-anniversary/

• Covington & Burling (Global Policy Watch) – What to Watch in 2026: Key Developments in EMEA Consumer Protection (2026): https://www.globalpolicywatch.com/2026/02/what-to-watch-in-2026-key-developments-in-emea-consumer-protection/

• EMARKETER – Influencer marketing set to surpass $13 billion by 2027 (2025): https://www.emarketer.com/content/influencer-marketing-set-surpass--13-billion-by-2027

• Retail Dive – TikTok Shop is driving social commerce growth (2025): https://www.retaildive.com/news/tiktok-shop-drives-social-commerce-growth/807665/

This article was written with the help of AI and reviewed by Collabri.