The news: Influencer marketing spending is increasing steadily in the US and worldwide, representing a key area of growth as audiences turn to the creators they trust for purchase decisions.

In a conversation with EMARKTER, Arthur Leopold, head of creator content ad platform Agentio, discussed why audiences are turning to influencers, how technology is changing the game, and where influencer marketing is heading.

Key insights:

• Audiences are losing trust in traditional advertising and gaining trust in the influencers they follow. Unlike traditional ads, creators “have built dedicated audiences, oftentimes over many years.” Fans trust creator recommendations—giving brands a chance to “have creators tell stories on their behalf.”
• AI is enhancing the creator marketing ecosystem. Through AI and LLMs, Agentio identifies more ways to work with top creators and connect brands with the creators best suited for them—and AI-driven influencer identification tools are proving valuable.
• Leopold believes influencer marketing spending has yet to reach its peak. “There’s a demonstrable shift of [ad] dollars continuing to move to the creator space, despite dollars in more traditional advertising mediums and channels retracting,” said Leopold. “We haven’t even experienced the very beginnings of the acceleration we should be expecting.”