It’s almost impossible to move for influencers online – and even on TV reality shows like Strictly Come Dancing, where YouTuber George Clarke (pictured) is on this year. This week we also learn that they have their own All Party Parliamentary Group to represent them, and 61 % of marketers plan to increase their spent on influencer content in 2026.
In their defence they did contribute £2.2bn to the UK economy in 2024, but how much do people really respond to creators? Consumers prefer platforms less flooded with influencers, choosing Amazon, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitch and Prime Video as their top five, according Kantar’s latest Media Reactions report.
Good news for Jeff Bezos and his Amazon firmament (which owns Prime Video and Twitch) but bad news for the marketers whose top two – YouTube and Instagram – are awash with influencers. Making up the marketer top five are Google, Netflix and Spotify.
So why the massive disconnect? Gonca Bubani, media director at Kantar, says: “This divergence between consumers and marketers is something we’ve consistently seen in Media Reactions studies over the years. There are a few reasons for this – firstly marketers put more emphasis on trust, valuing platforms that offer brand safety and robust performance measurement, among other factors. So well-established platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Google dominate their top five.”
Consumers, however “prefer platforms that are a reflection of their personal experiences of ads – whether they found them intrusive or helpful, for example. Amazon is in pole position for consumers, because ads on the platform are well targeted and feel relevant to them.”
Snapchat is popular because the ads are “fun, entertaining and less intrusive.” On Twitch, consumers trust the ads more than anywhere else – but marketers don’t invest there because they think gaming audiences are niche, narrow groups.
The march of online advertising is relentless, thanks to cost and convenience and the increased use of AI: Kantar’s report also shows that TV streaming investment is set to go up 54% and linear TV spend to decrease by 26%.
The Media Reactions report is based on interviews with 21,000 consumers across 30 markets and 1000 senior marketers globally.
