Imagine ordering a pizza on the weekend, eagerly waiting for the food and, when to open the box, to come across only a third of the slices? This is an analogy for the situation the advertising market faces when we talk about investment in campaigns with creators, according to astudy conducted by BrandLovers.
According to the survey, made based on the platform's database, of a total of R$ 2,18 bilhões por ano movimentado pelo setor — segundo dados divulgados por Kantar Ibope Media e Statista —,up to R$ 1,57 billion may be going to waste. In today's reality, in which influencer marketing has consolidated as one of the main digital advertising strategies in Brazil, the identification of this loss should serve as a warning for brands, reinforces Rapha Avellar, CEO of BrandLovers.
From the broad base of the platform, which currently has more than 220 thousand creators and makes an average of four payments per minute, the survey analyzed data from campaigns with nano, micro and macro content producers to make the diagnosis. With that, in addition to identifying the amount lost by advertisers and marketing professionals, it was possible to identify the root of the problem. "There is a lack of a data-driven approach", technology and scale.”
Avellar highlights that many brands still make decisions based on subjective perceptions or merely on the popularity of creators, without a thorough analysis of impact and performance. He points to the urgent need for a more structured model, based on data and technology. "Influencer media is so central to demand generation in 2025 that it needs to be treated as real media" – a game of exact science, and not of assumptions.He emphasizes that this change in mindset could maximize the return on investment, ensuring that a significant portion of the budgets was applied in a more strategic and efficient manner
The 3 main causes of waste
The research went beyond identifying the problem in the budget and sought to understand the causes behind it. There are three main factors of inefficiency when working with creators, that directly contribute to the waste scenario
- Inappropriate choice of creators' profile
The choice between nano, micro or macro creators, based on the profile size (in number of followers), has a direct impact on the efficiency of campaigns in relation to reach potential and cost-effectiveness. The survey shows that, for the same campaign, with a budget of R$1 million, micro creators have an average cost per view (CPView) of R$ 0,11 and they generate, on average, 9,1 million views. The macro creators have a CPView of R$ 0,31 and reach about 3,2 million views
This means that campaigns using micro creators achieve 65% more efficient reach per real invested, maximizing the impact of the campaign without increasing the budget
- Lack of Individual and Multifactor Pricing
The absence of a multifactor method for pricing creators is one of the main causes of inefficiency in influencer marketing investments. Although the number of followers is a relevant metric, it needs to be analyzed together with other factors to ensure fair and efficient pricing. Currently, a large part of the market still sets values based solely on this isolated metric, disregarding essential indicators such as impact, effective range, audience segmentation and cost per view optimization
This pricing model creates three major problems
- Pay per creator unit, and not by impact and reach
Many brands price creators based on follower ranges and average engagement. However, this simplified approach often causes a creator with 40 thousand followers to receive the same amount as one with 35 thousand. The same happens with creators with 60 thousand followers, where one can have 6% engagement and another only 4%, but both receive the same payment. This practice destroys media optimization and reduces investment efficiency - Excess of intermediaries between brand and creator
Agencies are strategic partners in brand communication, but there are poorly designed payment chains that can have 4 or even 5 intermediaries and can drastically increase costs. In some structures,the same creator can cost up to 6 times more, due to tax inefficiency and the margins added by unnecessary intermediaries. This cost transfer model reduces the budget allocated to what really matters: buying the media,deliver impact and generate genuine conversations about the brand - Paying the wrong amount due to lack of choice
Finding the right creator can become a bottleneck, and, under pressure to decide quickly, many brands end up choosing suboptimal creators. Without access to a large volume of qualified options, campaigns may end up paying the same amount to creators who deliver less results, jeopardizing the return on investment
A comparative analysis demonstrated the impact of switching to a pricing model with a more efficient algorithm
- Before: A traditional campaign based solely on the number of followers resulted in a cost per view of £0,16, generating 3,1 million views
- After: Applying a smart pricing model, that considers multiple factors (real impact, segmentation and media optimization, the cost per view dropped to R$ 0,064, allowing to reach 7,75 million views with the same budget
- Result: An increase of +150% in the campaign's reach, optimizing the investment by more than 60%
The data makes it clear that pricing errors not only unnecessarily increase costs, but also limit the potential of influencer media as a strategic channel for awareness and consideration. Adjusting the way brands buy this media can bring exponential gains, ensuring that every real invested generates real and maximized impact
- Wrong segmentation
Another critical error identified is the choice of creators whose audience is not aligned with the objectives of the action. The research revealed that campaigns with low fit between the creator and the brand result in a CPView of R$ 0,30, while those with high fit reach a CPView of only R$ 0,09. That is to say, misdirected campaigns are 3,33 times less efficient
Furthermore, the increase in costs can become even more critical when the creator's audience is not aligned with the target audience of the campaign. This problem occurs because many brands still choose creators with a brand association mindset, and not with a strategic media planning approach.The creator who appears to be the "face of your brand" can, in practice, to have an audience that does not reflect the profile of your ideal consumer, drastically reducing the effectiveness of the campaign
The lack of alignment, therefore, it can mean a waste of up to 72% of the budget of some campaigns.This is if the segmentation is not done based on concrete data about the audience profile, real engagement and affinity with the brand
How to avoid budget loss
Brands need to adopt a more analytical mindset in influencer marketing, just as they already do in other media fronts, affirms Avellar. What we see today is that many decisions are made based on subjective factors, without a deeper assessment of the potential impact of each creator.”
To avoid an analysis based on a single criterion and the harm caused by this practice,the study indicates the adoption of a planning made from well-structured data and criteria. This includes
- Data-driven decisions beyond followers and engagement – Use technology for predictive analytics to identify the most effective creators to optimize essential KPIs, like impacts, reach and frequency
- Think like media – Define the campaign target before selecting the creators, prioritizing the delivery of results instead of choices based solely on image association
- Strategic and efficient pricing – Avoid cost distortions that increase investment without proportionality in return, ensuring that payments are optimized to maximize the scale and impact of campaigns
"The key to the future of influencer marketing lies in precision", concludes Avellar. "The brands that know how to use technology and data at the center of their strategies", they will be able to avoid waste. More than that, they will be able to maximize the real impact of their activations with creators. In the end, the success of influencer marketing does not depend only on investing more money, but rather to invest more intelligently
