The European Creator Economy Is Heating Up

Open Glossary

Much like CreatorIQ, the influencer marketing industry got its start in the United States. And just as we’ve since gone global, creators have begun capturing hearts and attention all across the world. Today, the Creator Economy is truly international, and some of the most exciting influencer marketing stories anywhere are happening in Europe.

To benchmark the European Creator Economy, and provide a framework for where it’s going next, we analyzed the performance of top European brands across key industries, and measured these brands against their American counterparts. Because brands in the U.S. market still boast the highest raw totals in our key metrics, they pose a useful comparison for brands on CreatorIQ’s European Creator Panel, which compiles top creators across multiple social media platforms from France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Think of the Panel as a representative cross-section of the internet at large—all the movers and shakers in Europe are there, providing directional insights into the market as a whole. We expected some differences to emerge between the European and American markets. But we didn’t expect those differences to paint such a clear picture.

In seven of the eight industries we analyzed, top European brands averaged higher YoY Earned Media Value (EMV) growth than top American brands. This greater EMV growth generally corresponded with greater gains in Engagement and Impressions, as well as community size and content volume. While this growth was distributed across social platforms, TikTok distinguished itself as a major source of momentum. TikTok is driving impressive progress for top American brands, but the growth it’s sparking for top European brands is nothing short of amazing.

Earned Media Value (EMV) is CreatorIQ’s proprietary metric for quantifying the estimated value of social engagement with digital earned media. CreatorIQ assigns a unique value to a piece of content based on engagement—such as likes, comments, shares, and video views—received from users, as well as the platform it was published on (Instagram, YouTube, etc.), and attributes that value to brands mentioned in the post. Interested in learning more about EMV? Read our blog post!

EMV

If the message wasn’t getting through before, then it should now: Influencer marketing is more integral to European brands’ growth than ever before.

Which European brands and industries stood out from the pack?

Get cozy, grab a mug of tea or a glass of wine (this is Europe, after all), and read on…

What influencer marketing strategies do these top-performing brands have in common?

And how can your brand adopt these strategies to spark growth of its own?

Moreover, because the Creator Economy in Europe represents more nascent territory than in America, there’s more explosive potential for brands looking to build robust programs. In other words, when it comes to the future of the global Creator Economy, Europe is firmly in the driver’s seat (which is sometimes on the other side of the car).

For definitions of the metrics used throughout this report, please reference our Glossary.

Open Glossary

Glossary of Key Metrics

EMV

Earned Media Value (EMV) is CreatorIQ’s proprietary metric for quantifying the estimated value of social engagement with digital earned media.

Engagements

The total number of likes, comments, and shares that content about your brand received.

Impressions

How many times content about your brand was viewed by your creator community’s followers.

Creator Tiers

Powerhouse Creator

Creator with over 1M followers on their primary channel.

Established Creator

Creator with 300k to 1M followers on their primary channel.

Mid-Tier Creator

Creator with 100k to 1M followers on their primary channel

Micro-Creator

Creator with fewer than 100k followers on their primary channel.

Community Size

The total number of creators who created content about a brand within a given time period.

Posting Frequency

The average number of posts created per creator for a brand within a given time period.

Glossary

CreatorIQ assigns a unique value to a piece of content based on engagement—such as likes, comments, shares, and video views—received from users, as well as the platform it was published on (Instagram, YouTube, etc.), and attributes that value to brands mentioned in the post.

Community Metrics

Let's Go

Open Glossary

Methodology

We’ll be throwing a lot of numbers at you in this report, so here’s a handy guide to where all this data is coming from.

We averaged key metrics for the Top 25 Brands by Earned Media Value (EMV) in notable industries across both our European and United States Creator Panels.

Select an Industry

Beauty

Europe

33%

U.S.

29%

Beauty was the only industry in this investigation where the Top 25 U.S. brands enjoyed higher YoY EMV growth, and growth across a majority of other metrics, than the Top 25 European brands.

Translation: how do leading brands in both markets stack up head-to-head in the most important directional metrics for gauging virality and resonance on social media?

What are those notable industries, you ask?

And what’s the timeframe for this investigation?

*Note: the Top 10 Streaming Services were used for averages in both the European and U.S. markets.

Beauty

Non-Alcoholic Beverages

Alcoholic Beverages

Quick-Service Restaurants

Streaming Services*

Luxury Fashion

Apparel

Retailers

What is this report about?

Another great question: March 2023 to February 2024.

Luxury Fashion

Both the Top 25 European Luxury Fashion Brands and the Top 25 U.S. Luxury Fashion Brands averaged more modest YoY EMV gains than their counterparts in Beauty and other industries, with these two groups posting respective 9% and 7% gains.

Thanks to European brands’ more prolific creators, whose activity was further magnified by the viral power of TikTok, the market’s top brands averaged a 26% YoY improvement in Engagements, outpacing U.S. brands’ 19% YoY surge.

Apparel

The Top 25 European Retailers averaged $121.9M EMV, while the Top 25 U.S. Retailers averaged $578.5M EMV—almost 400% higher.

Retailers

Streaming Services

However, U.S. Alcoholic Beverage brands averaged just $2.1M EMV from TikTok (itself a strong 130% YoY growth), demonstrating that compared to other industries, TikTok comprises a far lower share of content created about Alcoholic Beverages brands across global markets.

Alcoholic Beverages

TikTok once again proved key to this efficacy, with both European and U.S. brands garnering significant YoY increases in EMV generated by the platform. At a respective 525% and 151%, these YoY surges were the greatest in any industry outside Non-Alcoholic Beverages or Beauty, and further proof that Food & Beverage is an area of particular momentum within the European market.

Non-Alcoholic Beverages

Luxury Fashion

Apparel

Retailers

Streaming Services

Alcoholic Beverages

Quick-Service Restaurants

Non-Alcoholic Beverages

One reason why European Beauty pulled ahead in Impressions growth was European brands’ focus on powerhouse creators. Due to their higher follower counts, these brand advocates tend to drive more eyes toward their content—however, those views don’t necessarily convert into the likes, comments, shares, and interactions that equate with Engagements. In all, top European Beauty brands averaged 33% of their EMV from powerhouse creators, compared to top U.S. Beauty brands’ 29% mark.

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@manon.terles

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@katiktr

Of all the industries in this investigation, Luxury Fashion saw the lowest discrepancy in average TikTok EMV total between European brands and U.S. brands.

Top Luxury Fashion brands in the European and U.S. averaged 3% and 5% YoY community expansions, figures that proved too low to avoid respective 3% and 1% YoY declines in content volume.

Despite this drop, European brands were still able to distinguish themselves via Impressions growth: the market averaged a 16% YoY improvement in this metric, 4x U.S. brands’ 4% YoY improvement.

Many of these powerhouse creators favored TikTok for their activity: European Streaming Services saw a 222% YoY improvement in TikTok EMV, more than 4x U.S. Streaming Services’ 52% YoY average.

This dynamic would be repeated across every industry we measured: more creators are posting about brands in the U.S. market, leading to higher numbers in terms of EMV, Engagements, and other metrics. Still, if the general growth trends continue, European brands will eventually pull even. Two key areas of growth in which top European Beauty brands outpaced top U.S. Beauty brands were Impressions and TikTok EMV.

Community Size

The total number of creators who created content about a brand within a given time period.

Posting Frequency

The average number of posts created per creator for a brand within a given time period.

Community Metrics

Impressions

How many times content about your brand was viewed by your creator community’s followers.

Engagements

The total number of likes, comments, and shares that content about your brand received.

Earned Media Value (EMV) is CreatorIQ’s proprietary metric for quantifying the estimated value of social engagement with digital earned media.

EMV

Glossary

In the European market, top Non-Alcoholic Beverage brands averaged a 555% YoY surge in Impressions and a 764% YoY boost in Engagements, eclipsing U.S. averages of 98% and 73%.

Average YoY Community Expansion

Europe

10%

In keeping with multiple other industries in this investigation—particularly those in Food & Beverage—the European market’s advantage became more pronounced across Impressions and Engagements.

These European brands averaged an 84% YoY EMV growth, outpacing the 44% YoY EMV growth averaged by U.S. brands.

Top U.S. Beauty brands averaged a 41% YoY growth, narrowly outpacing Top European Beauty brands’ 38% average. However, U.S. Beauty brands also claimed much higher totals in every metric.

38%

Europe

41%

U.S.

Average YoY Growth EMV

European Beauty brands averaged a 67% YoY surge in Impressions, outpacing U.S. Beauty brands’ 57% average. Meanwhile, in a pattern that also held true across other industries, TikTok EMV increased significantly for both markets, but European Beauty came out on top with a 211% improvement, surpassing U.S. Beauty’s 165% surge.

165%

U.S.

Average YoY Growth TikTok EMV

211%

Europe

100%

57%

U.S.

67%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Impressions

Percent EMV from Powerhouse Creators

With the exception of U.S. Streaming Services, which also averaged a 9% YoY EMV uptick, these were the lowest growths for any industry in this investigation, indicating that Luxury Fashion’s recent rough patch is a global phenomenon.

U.S.

-3%

Europe

Average YoY Change Community Size & Content Volume

Content Volume

One reason for this relatively low momentum is flatlining creator communities across both the European and U.S. markets, which has in turn led to declining post counts.

Community Size

-1%

Click to highlight metric:

As will be discussed elsewhere in this analysis, this wasn’t the widest gap we observed between European brands and U.S. brands in this metric, with European brands outpacing U.S. brands across every industry.

As with Luxury Fashion, top European Apparel brands narrowly outpaced the growth enjoyed by top U.S. Apparel brands, with the two markets enjoying respective 17% and 14% YoY EMV increases.

14%

U.S.

17%

Europe

Average YoY Growth EMV

10%

11%

U.S.

Europe

Content Volume

Community Size

Click to highlight metric:

Average YoY Growth Community Size & Content Volume

While U.S. Apparel brands pulled in a higher average of $48.8M EMV, this proved a 39% growth, roughly one-third of the momentum seen from European brands. This fact provides further indication that TikTok provides a crucial growth outlet for European brands across a range of industries.

This momentum was due in part to European brands’ comparatively active creator communities: while European and U.S. brands averaged roughly equal 8% and 9% YoY community expansions, European brands saw a notable 11% YoY surge in content volume, almost triple the 4% uptick averaged by U.S. brands. In other words, European creators were posting more actively about top Apparel brands, leading to greater EMV growth.

But EMV wasn’t the only metric where European brands once again outperformed their American counterparts. Europe’s top Apparel brands averaged $33.5M EMV from TikTok, an impressive 110% growth.

In terms of YoY TikTok EMV growth, Retail proved the most evenly matched industry in this analysis. European brands averaged a 125% YoY improvement, while U.S. brands averaged an 88% YoY surge. Though this was the lowest difference in this metric between the two markets of any industry in this analysis, European Retailers still claimed a >30% advantage, underscoring TikTok’s status as a game-changer in the European market.

EMV was no exception: in a close race, European Retailers came out ahead with an average 20% YoY EMV growth, beating out U.S. Retailers’ average 18% YoY EMV improvement.

However, both markets lost ground in content volume: European Retailers saw a 1% YoY decline, while U.S. Retailers suffered a more pronounced 6% YoY contraction.

In part due to its smaller sample size—due to the size of the industry, we averaged the Top 10 brands in each market, rather than the Top 25 selected in other industries—Streaming Services presented one of the wider divergences between European and U.S. performance in this report.

Top European Streaming Services averaged a 30% YoY EMV growth, 3x U.S. Streaming Services’ 9% YoY gain.

The gap was even wider for Impressions and Engagements: in the former metric, European brands averaged a 45% YoY growth to U.S. brands’ 10% YoY growth; in the latter, the figures were 83% versus 13%.

While European Streaming Services averaged a 10% YoY community expansion, U.S. Streaming Services saw their creator communities contract by 1% YoY. Meanwhile, the European market enjoyed a healthy 16% YoY increase in post volume, more than 5x the 3% uptick averaged by U.S. Streaming Services.

Percent EMV from Powerhouse Creators

Of all the industries in this analysis, Streaming Services was most heavily tilted toward powerhouse creators. This creator tier accounted for a respective 64% and 71% of European and U.S. Streaming Services’ EMV; both percentages are higher than any other average amongst all industries and markets in this report.

-1%

vs.

Much of this gap emerged from the two markets’ different performances across community metrics.

U.S.

Average YoY Post Volume Growth

vs.

Europe

U.S.

16%

$35M

$11.1M

Mar 2022 – Feb 2023

$30.2M

Rabanne EMV

In true European fashion, the industry in which European brands most dramatically outperformed their U.S. counterparts was Alcoholic Beverages.

The Top 25 European Alcoholic Beverage brands averaged a 150% YoY EMV growth, a full order of magnitude above the Top 25 U.S. Alcoholic Beverage Brands’ 50% average.

This success spilled over into YoY growth in Impressions and Engagements, where European brands beat out U.S. brands to the tune of 199% vs. 52% and 160% to 53%, respectively.

Despite these lopsided margins, European brands didn’t garner significantly higher community expansions. Instead, European creators posted much more frequently, fueling a surge in content volume. European and U.S. Brands saw respective 24% and 16% YoY gains in community size—comparable figures that belie the European market’s advantage across multiple other metrics.

However, top European brands also averaged a 69% YoY post count expansion, well above the average 28% YoY growth seen by top American brands. European content creators are posting about their favorite alcoholic beverage brands at a greater rate than American content creators, fueling more momentum for Europe’s top brands.

EMV

Average YoY Growth

98%

555%

Average YoY Growth Impressions

As with QSRs and Alcoholic Beverages, Non-Alcoholic Beverages was another Food & Beverage industry in which European brands boasted strong growth relative to U.S. brands.

Like Alcoholic Beverages, European and U.S. brands in the Non-Alcoholic Beverage category saw similar YoY community expansions (29% vs. 22%). However, unlike Alcoholic Beverages, the two markets were also nearly equal in content volume growth (29% vs. 28%).

In other words, the European market’s momentum doesn’t stem from more active creators, so much as the efficacy of the content that they crafted.

44%

84%

EMV

Average YoY Growth

While U.S. brands claimed higher metrics than European brands across all the industries we surveyed, the discrepancy seen in Retailers was particularly notable.

As was also the case for Luxury Fashion, both European and U.S. Retailers averaged either negligible growth in key community metrics, or saw declines in these metrics.

Nonetheless, another consistent trend held true: despite claiming lower totals in these metrics, European brands saw higher YoY growth averages compared to U.S. brands.

-10%

10%

-6%

-1%

U.S.

Europe

Content Volume

Community Size

Click to highlight metric:

Average YoY Change Community Size & Content Volume

When it came to community size, European Retailers enjoyed a slight 3% YoY growth, outpacing U.S. Retailers’ 0% YoY change.

As with Spotify, PRIME’s EMV generation amongst its top earners was particularly lopsided. The official account of Misfits Boxing—an organization whose CEO is KSI, a co-founder of PRIME along with Logan Paul—generated $35.8M EMV via 2.0k posts, ranking as PRIME’s top earner by a very wide margin.

Here’s why PRIME is doing so well online, and how it’s gunning for the top dogs in the energy drink game.

Not all brands founded by a creator succeed, but not all creators are Logan Paul, and not all brands are PRIME. The energy drinks company, a favorite with Paul’s legions of fans, punched its way to No. 3 on the European Non-Alcoholic Beverages leaderboard, behind only household names Red Bull and Coca-Cola. After launching in January 2022, PRIME enjoyed a strong sophomore season, securing $78.5M EMV, an impressive 395% YoY EMV growth.

Many brands launch an event-based marketing strategy, rallying around distinct points on the calendar. PRIME had an obvious candidate on its hands in October 2023, when brand founders KSI and Logan Paul fought Tommy Fury and Dillon Danis, respectively, during an event billed as Judgment Day.

However, despite this aggregator status, Misfits Boxing did serve as a highly effective communal rallying point for PRIME.

Georgina’s example presents an effective use-case for how leading Beauty brands can contribute to creators’ expertise and professional opportunities, forging mutually beneficial partnerships.

Collaborative Partnerships Elevate Creators

TikTok was key to the mascara’s momentum, with the mascara’s top 20 EMV-generating posts, and 42 of its top 50, all stemming from the short-form video platform.

TikTok Sparks Virality for Key Products

By way of comparison, PRIME’s No. 2 earner, streamer and TikToker Shivani Khosla, inspired $8.2M EMV. Part of this discrepancy stems from Misfits Boxing’s status as a content aggregator, rather than an account belonging to an individual; this status factored into the account’s ability to post about PRIME an average of five times per day for the duration of CreatorIQ’s 12-month analysis. However, despite this aggregator status, Misfits Boxing did serve as a highly effective communal rallying point for PRIME.

As evidenced by passionate posts from L’Oréal partners like Jessica De Oliveira (@deoliveira_jessica), who recreated her signature Cannes makeup look for her followers, the brand used these splashy moments not only for promotion and advertising, but for community-building—the gift that keeps on giving.

Mark Your Calendars

L’Oréal Paris Key Strategies

Notably, the iconic brand did all this despite seeing just a 16% YoY community expansion (11.2k creators) and a 20% YoY jump in content volume (79.4k posts).

A perennial European Beauty classic, L’Oréal Paris stood out within the industry during the timeframe of our investigation, ranking No. 2 by EMV ($401.0M) and enjoying an impressive 93% YoY growth.

TikTok can make or break brands across a range of industies, but especially in Beauty. Thankfully for L’Oréal Paris, even long-established brands can learn new tricks. Fourteen of the brand’s top 20 posts by EMV were TikToks, primarily videos showing brand partners doing their makeup for large events, or hyping a new launch from L’Oréal.

One such release, the Voluminous Panorama Washable Mascara, proved particularly impactful: despite launching in the new year, the mascara collected $11.2M EMV across January and February to rank as one of the brand’s top products from the last twelve months.

Top 25 Ranking

How did L’Oréal Paris set itself apart?

$401.0M

EMV

93%

YoY EMV Growth

With a big name like L’Oréal, it stands to reason that there will be some big events in play, and sure enough the brand was front-and-center at some of Europe’s splashiest scenes.

From the Cannes Film Festival to the Venice Film Festival to everything in between, L’Oréal Paris was on-hand for attendees’ makeup needs. But the brand wasn’t just catering to celebrities—instead, L’Oréal Paris put creators at the heart of its events strategy, flying them out and treating them in style.

Click to view TikTok

Bringing creators to Cannes wasn’t the only way that L’Oréal Paris rewarded its most passionate creators (though that certainly didn’t hurt).

Author and influencer Georgina Rodríguez (@georginagio) emerged as a crucial brand partner when she collaborated with the brand on the launch of the Telescopic Lift Mascara. The product debuted in early 2023 and has remained a consistent winner for L’Oréal Paris ever since, closing our period of analysis with $21.1M EMV as one of the brand’s top offerings.

Georgina’s impact was key to both the mascara and L’Oréal Paris more broadly: though she only posted about the brand eight times from March 2023 to February 2024, five of these posts ranked as L’Oréal Paris’ top five overall pieces of content by EMV, while two more ranked within the top 50.

Posted L'Oréal Paris' top five overall pieces of content by EMV

This new cohort included Rabanne’s top two EMV-drivers, H&M’s owned accounts and actress Martina Cariddi, as well as DJ and singer Peggy Gou.

This proved nearly 3x the $11.1M EMV generated by creators who posted during those preceding 12 months, then dropped off more recently.

When you boast the Top 25’s largest community expansion, it stands to reason that incoming creators are driving serious EMV.

Despite receiving no mentions from March through September, #RabanneHM netted $3.8M EMV as one of the brand’s top hashtags during the time period monitored.

Faithful promotion from this powerhouse creator team went a long way toward Rabanne’s success, though the brand also enjoyed a boost from its newfound partner: the owned accounts of H&M ranked as Rabanne’s top EMV-driver by a wide margin, powering $1.8M EMV across 115 posts.

It’s pretty simple algebra: pairing up a hot luxury fashion brand with a popular retailer is sure to get social media buzzing. The joint collection surged thanks to a splashy launch party featuring creators from various European markets.

Rabanne x H&M = $$$

The brand leveraged its creator community to promote the new line, particularly around the Moods collection of products, with #RabanneMoods netting $2.8M EMV.

Interdisciplinary brands are all the rage. Whether it’s a skincare brand teaming up with a quick-service restaurant (we see you, RHODE x Krispy Kreme), or a beauty brand teaming up with every podcast’s favorite water company (give it up for Urban Decay x Liquid Death), more and more brands are seeing the benefit of building bridges across industries.

Breaking Into Beauty

While Rabanne ranked No. 21 in Europe’s Luxury Fashion Top 25 with $72.4M EMV, the cutting-edge fashion house enjoyed a 57% YoY EMV growth, well ahead of the Top 25’s 9% growth. Moreover, Rabanne delivered Top 25-leading 37% and 47% YoY improvements to its community size (4.5k creators) and content volume (20.8k posts). Here’s how.

Thanks to several bold initiatives, which provided timely mash-ups of Luxury Fashion with both everyday fashion and beauty, Rabanne surged during the time period monitored, emerging as a standout brand despite Luxury Fashion’s broader slow-down.

YoY EMV Growth

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Newcomers Lead the Way

The result is as endearing as it is motivational, and a key reason why Gymshark has a higher retention rate than a regular gym.

Whether they’re sharing challenges or outfit inspo or healthy recipes, Gymshark creators position themselves not only as personal trainers dispensing expert advice, but friends carrying out workouts alongside their followers.

In the same way that you might have a set of workout buddies, or a community of regulars at your local gym, content from Gymshark partners seeks to make exercise less daunting, more fun, and—most importantly—a shared experience.

Building a Virtual Exercise Class

From the data, it’s clear that the brand’s partners view Gymshark with the same sense of dedication that they view their gym routines.

Even when expanding the set out to Gymshark’s top 100 EMV-drivers, the average post count for the time period monitored remains at 159, a testament to the brand’s incredibly loyal community.

Gymshark’s top creators post about the brand prolifically: the brand’s top 10 EMV-driving advocates averaged 330 posts each about Gymshark, or nearly once per day over the course of a year.

Rely on a Core Team

One reason for the success of Gymshark’s program is that the content bearing these codes was generally more substantive than typical affiliate content, bearing detailed mentions of Gymshark in addition to the code itself.

Content touting these codes usually makes up a smaller percentage of a brand’s total EMV, but this wasn’t the case with Gymshark. Of the brand’s $206.6M EMV, almost half ($92.5M EMV) came via content that featured a creator’s personalized discount code.

One of the most common ways that brands bolster their affiliate programs is via personalized discount codes for creators to share with their followers.

Always Be Code-Sharing

Here’s what Gymshark did to keep those creators passionate and engaged.

Notably, while Gymshark’s community expanded by just 13% YoY, its content volume swelled by 48%, indicating that creators who posted about the brand did so quite consistently.

Coming in at No. 11 on the Apparel Top 25, Gymshark boasted a 54% YoY EMV growth, more than 3x the Top 25’s 17% average.

YoY Content Volume Growth

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While neither of these figures are massive, they both exceed the averages for the Top 25 European Alcoholic Beverage Brands in Europe—particularly the growth figure, in which the Top 25 averaged just an 8% YoY uptick.

Thanks to the starry status of brand partners like the Six Nations Rugby League and creators like Ryan, Guinness saw a 19% YoY surge in the proportion of its EMV generated by powerhouse creators, topping out at 52%.

Powerhouse Creators, Now on Tap

Given the excitement around this content, it would be no surprise to see Guinness continuing to work with Ryan in some capacity.

In this stunt, which was repeated at different bars, Ryan managed to cleverly flip an upturned glass of Guinness off a bar without spilling anything, thus earning another Guinness for free.

Another productive newcomer to Guinness’ community was magician Ryan Tricks, who put on several high-profile challenges throughout the period of CreatorIQ’s analysis.

Guinness Plays a Magic Trick

As the partnership continues to develop, Guinness will likely look to deepen its ties with star athletes, a surefire source of Engagement and Impressions for Food & Beverages all around the world.

While Irish Rugby had posted about Guinness during the 12 months prior to CreatorIQ’s analysis, Six Nations Rugby was new to Guinness’ community. Despite this newness, the league powered $1.3M EMV via 144 posts.

As in life, so on social media: sports and beer are made for each other. Two of Guinness’ highest EMV-driving advocates—the Six Nations Rugby League, which Guinness officially sponsors, and the Irish Rugby team, which Guinness proudly supports—were sports-affiliated, while the beer brand also pulled in content from other athletes and official sports leagues.

Best Paired With Rugby

How did Guinness get ahead? Grab a pint and dig in.

Coming in at No. 3 on the Top 25 with $16.8M EMV, Guinness enjoyed an 82% YoY EMV growth, despite experiencing relatively modest 21% YoY gains to its community size (1.5k creators) and content volume (4.9k posts).

Another iconic European brand, Guinness distinguished itself even amid a crowded and competitive Alcoholic Beverages market.

European brands averaged $12.5M EMV from TikTok, not far off from U.S. brands’ $16.5M EMV average. This similarity stems mainly from European brands’ 129% YoY growth in TikTok EMV, a rate that more than doubled U.S. brands’ 61% YoY growth.

Initiatives like Rabanne’s beauty line and collaboration with H&M were key to attracting attention from these incoming creators.

Meanwhile, some brands are keeping this process in-house. When Rabanne debuted its beauty line in August 2023, it took digital conversation about the brand by storm: despite driving virtually zero EMV from March through July, #RabanneMakeup accrued $5.6M EMV from August to February to rank as Rabanne’s No. 1 hashtag for the time period monitored.

#RabanneMakeup

$5.6M

EMV

Aug 2023 – Feb 2024

#RabanneMoods

$2.8M

EMV

No. 1 Hashtag

Sure enough, creators who hadn’t mentioned Rabanne from March 2022 to February 2023—the year preceding the timeframe examined in this report—powered $30.2M EMV.

~3x

the EMV generated by creators during prior 12 months

Mar 2023 – Feb 2024

Among these top 10 earners, the lowest post total was 140—still good for more than one post every three days.

This momentum stemmed largely from Space NK’s various outreach and community-building efforts, including product sends, inclusion in events and makeups, and facilitation with giveaway posts.

From March 2022 to February 2023, these same creators had generated just $31.6M EMV, meaning that the cohort nearly doubled their contributions.

While Space NK did see significant momentum from incoming creators, a majority of the retailer’s EMV stemmed from creators who had also posted about the brand during the preceding 12 months.

Investing In Consistent Advocates

Many of the retailer’s top EMV-driving hashtags speak to Space NK’s ubiquity in European makeup content, including #ViralMakeup ($5.8M EMV) and #SkincareRoutine ($5.0M EMV).

Space NK read the trends wisely and proactively, shaping its product lineup around what was big on social media and sending creators samples of the most in-demand brands and products.

But it wasn’t just Rare Beauty aficionados who were getting their fix at Space NK—fans of all viral makeup trends could avail themselves of the retailer’s offerings.

#ViralMakeup Source

As a result of these close collaborative ties, #RareBeauty ranked as Space NK’s No. 2 hashtag with $9.9M EMV—only narrowly trailing #SpaceNK, which pulled in $10.5M EMV. With Rare Beauty and Space NK so intertwined, look for both brands to continue their mutual rise.

When Rare Beauty continued its world tour/global domination, Space NK rolled out the red carpet, hosting brand events ranging from product labs to creator meet-ups.

As a Beauty retailer, there are worse strategies than hitching your wagon to one of the world’s hottest Beauty brands.

Rising With Rare Beauty

How did Space NK become one of Europe’s go-to venues for all things Beauty?

The retailer nearly doubled its creator community, which swelled by 82% YoY, and more than doubled its content volume, which exploded by 107% YoY.

It’s only right that one of the U.K.’s signature beauty retailers should stand out on the European Retailer list. Though it ranked at No. 13 in the Top 25, Space NK secured a Top 25-leading 126% YoY EMV surge—over 100% better than the Top 25’s average 20% YoY growth.

YoY Content Volume Growth

YoY EMV Growth

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#RareBeauty

$9.9M

EMV

No. 2 Hashtag

$60M

$59.4M

Mar 2023 – Feb 2024

$31.6M

Mar 2022 – Feb 2023

their contributions

~2x

Space NK EMV from Consistent Creators

These consistent advocates inspired $59.4M EMV, or over three-quarters of Space NK’s $77.8M EMV total.

88%

U.S.

125%

Europe

Average YoY Growth TikTok EMV

+25%

$578.5

U.S.

$121.9

Europe

Average EMV

18%

20%

EMV

Average YoY Growth

While Tibo’s posts didn’t mention Spotify in the most substantive capacity, the creator dramatically increased his personal total for the Streaming Service, improving his EMV contribution by 584% YoY.

In contrast, Spotify’s No. 2 earner, FC Barcelona, inspired $48.6M EMV via 725 posts—roughly one-third of the ultra-fit Frenchman.

No. 1 earner Thibaud Delapart Mazăre (Tibo InShape on YouTube) powered $129.1M EMV via 1.3k posts, featuring a link to his Spotify page in each piece of media he shared.

Relative to other brands in other industries, Spotify saw particularly lopsided EMV generation amongst its top creators.

The ‘Tibo InShape’ Effect

In all, #SpotifyWrapped closed the 12 months of our investigation with $8.5M EMV, demonstrating the degree to which Spotify has mobilized to make the feature a cultural fixture.

While #SpotifyWrapped had garnered roughly $55.0k EMV from March to October from particularly eager creators, everyone raced to share their findings come November, leading to $6.5M EMV for the hashtag that month—the highest single-month total for any Spotify hashtag during the time period monitored.

View this post on Instagram

One of the signature moments on Spotify’s social media calendar—and on the social media calendar at large—came in November, when the Streaming Service debuted its eagerly awaited Spotify Wrapped feature for 2023.

It's a Wrap

Spotify

YouTube EMV

Total EMV

Any Streaming Service

YouTube’s dominance mainly stemmed from the inclusion of Spotify links in much-viewed music videos, podcast clips, or other highly viral pieces of media.

This YouTube haul represented a 64% YoY growth for Spotify, showing that YouTube as a channel is growing at a faster rate than Spotify as a whole.

In other words, Spotify’s YouTube EMV was greater than the total EMV for any European Streaming Service.

Unlike other industries, where CreatorIQ is more likely to highlight the dominance of Instagram or TikTok, Streaming Services runs on YouTube. The OG video platform drove $538.0M EMV for Spotify, more than half the service’s overall total.

YouTube Reigns Supreme

What’s more, Spotify secured a 58% YoY EMV growth, best in the Top 10 apart from Paramount+’s 146% surge. Let’s tune in.

It would have been hard to pick anyone else but Spotify. The household-name platform dominated the European leaderboard, ranking No. 1 with a whopping $900.5M EMV—nearly double the haul of No. 2-ranking Netflix ($464.9M EMV).

$129.1M

via 1.3k posts

EMV

No. 1 EMV Driver

$48.6M

via 725 posts

EMV

No. 2 EMV Driver

151%

525%

TikTok EMV

Average YoY Growth

Thanks to all this hype, #KSIFury inspired $14.3M EMV as PRIME’s top hashtag, despite accruing zero EMV in eight of the year’s 12 months.

While the results for the PRIME co-founders were mixed, the brand wasted no time mobilizing its community before, during, and after the event, prompting a notable spike in content creation throughout October.

Gearing Up for a Fight

PRIME’s incredible growth on the back of Instagram shows that while TikTok gets much of the glory, Instagram is still influencer marketing’s primary tool for a good reason.

For all that TikTok remained a guiding force for EMV in the Non-Alcoholic Beverage space as a whole, PRIME was partial to Instagram.

Don't Call It a Comeback

The Power of Misfits

Misfits Boxing was a key driver in this Instagram improvement, though PRIME also saw boosts on the platform from star athletes like Erling Haaland and internet celebrities like Ibai Llanos.

The platform accounted for $51.4M EMV, or 65% of the brand’s total. This EMV haul also represented an 831% YoY increase, exceeding PRIME’s gains on TikTok (179%) and YouTube (293%).

1k%

293%

YouTube

831%

Instagram

Social Platform EMV

Average YoY Growth

179%

TikTok

View this post on Instagram

The content went viral across multiple platforms, particularly Meta, helping Ryan accrue $780.9k EMV after not posting about the brand previously.

View this post on Instagram

While European Alcoholic Beverage brands averaged a 2.1k% YoY growth in TikTok EMV—this report’s highest figure in this metric by a wide margin—this surge is largely due to the fact that top brands each averaged just $482.0k EMV via TikTok, the smallest such figure in this report.

Posted L'Oréal Paris' top five overall pieces of content by EMV

Georgina’s example presents an effective use-case for how leading Beauty brands can contribute to creators’ expertise and professional opportunities, forging mutually beneficial partnerships.

Bringing creators to Cannes wasn’t the only way that L’Oréal Paris rewarded its most passionate creators (though that certainly didn’t hurt).

Collaborative Partnerships Elevate Creators

TikTok was key to the mascara’s momentum, with the mascara’s top 20 EMV-generating posts, and 42 of its top 50, all stemming from the short-form video platform.

TikTok Sparks Virality for Key Products

Click to view TikTok

@katiktr

Click to view TikTok

@manon.terles

With a big name like L’Oréal, it stands to reason that there will be some big events in play, and sure enough the brand was front-and-center at some of Europe’s splashiest scenes.

Click to view TikTok

Mark Your Calendars

of 3

L’Oréal Paris Key Strategies

How did L’Oréal Paris set itself apart?

Notably, the iconic brand did all this despite seeing just a 16% YoY community expansion (11.2k creators) and a 20% YoY jump in content volume (79.4k posts).

Top 25 Ranking

$401M

EMV

93%

YoY EMV Growth

Compared to other industries, European QSRs averaged lower TikTok totals compared to the U.S. The European Top 25 averaged $4.0M EMV from TikTok per brand, well below the $21.5M EMV averaged by the U.S. Top 25. However, European brands enjoyed a 237% YoY growth in the metric—roughly 3x the U.S.’ 81% average—demonstrating that TikTok is poised to play an increasingly large role in European QSRs’ influencer marketing strategies in 2024 and beyond.

29%

33%

U.S.

Europe

Percent EMV from Powerhouse Creators

Instead, the advantage for European QSRs stemmed from more diversification amongst these brands’ creator communities. On average, 48% of European QSRs’ EMV was generated by powerhouse creators, compared to a notably high 60% average for U.S. QSRs. By incorporating more content from lower-tier creators, European QSRs sparked engagement among dedicated followers.

While these EMV figures are relatively even, the growth became more pronounced across Impressions and Engagements, where the European market outpaced the U.S. market 211% to 94% and 308% to 65%, respectively.

38%

Europe

41%

U.S.

Average YoY Growth EMV

European QSRs averaged a 67% YoY EMV growth, outranking a strong 55% YoY EMV growth from U.S. QSRs.

While European QSRs proved roughly 6x smaller by EMV than U.S. QSRs—$12.6M EMV vs. $72.8M EMV, on average—this industry presented one of the most lopsided instances of growth in the European market’s favor.

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

Quick-Service Restaurants

The metrics below represent the average of the Top 25 Quick-Service Restaurant Brands for both our European and United States Creator Panels. Remember: feel free to reference our glossary for definitions of key metrics.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

13%

22%

5,201

1,141

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

20%

23%

14,681

2,901

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

65%

308%

187,916,127

9,399,035

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

94%

211%

1,343,833,864

199,896,249

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

55%

67%

$72,821,676

$12,639,260

Creator Panel

Influencer Tier

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

Europe

U.S.

-4%

-8%

13%

Europe

U.S.

42%

48%

12%

16%

Europe

U.S.

22%

39%

19%

23%

Europe

U.S.

-7%

-3%

60%

48%

Percent EMV by Influencer Tier

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

83%

501%

$60,143,036

$1,663,549

Europe

U.S.

81%

237%

$21,534,078

$3,974,974

Europe

U.S.

Europe

U.S.

47%

66%

$27,638,096

$5,008,193

EMV by Social Platform

This overindexing in Impressions and Engagements for European QSRs didn’t stem from a dramatic advantage over U.S. QSRs in terms of community metrics. European and U.S. QSRs expanded their creator communities by respective 22% and 13% YoY, while each set’s post count increased by a roughly even 23% and 20%.

350%

65%

U.S.

308%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Engagements

250%

94%

U.S.

211%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Impressions

28%

U.S.

69%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Post Count

This cohort contributed $4.5M EMV, roughly 73% of Costa Coffee’s total. Given that the brand’s consistent creators increased their totals YoY from $1.6M EMV to $1.7M EMV, it now falls to Costa Coffee to retain these newly added brand fans, and furnish them with additional opportunities for content creation.

In addition to powerhouse creators, Costa Coffee also benefited from an influx of brand fans who hadn’t posted about the brand during the preceding year.

New-Wave Coffee

Click to view TikTok

@the_bakeking

Click to view TikTok

@holly.laing

Click to view TikTok

@coleanderson.j

YouTuber Brandon Baum, who participated in both the #SmoothMoves and #TasteTheUnbelievable campaigns, was one such powerhouse creator, inspiring $634.2k EMV—more than double the brand’s next-highest earner—as Costa Coffee’s No. 1 overall EMV-driver.

While this proportion was well below the Top 25’s 48% average, it also represented a whopping 216% YoY surge, demonstrating a notable shift in Costa Coffee’s influencer marketing strategy.

These creators, who boast >1M followers on their primary social channel, accounted for 32% of Costa Coffee’s EMV.

In part due to the aforementioned campaigns, Costa Coffee drew upon powerhouse creators to a greater degree than ever before.

View this post on TikTok

A Powerhouse Boost

Click to view TikTok

@katiktr

Click to view TikTok

@manon.terles

While #TasteTheUnbelievable netted just $227.5k EMV, it demonstrated how Costa Coffee can successfully mobilize a consistent creator community around campaign content.

Costa Coffee was back at it again to bookend CreatorIQ’s investigation, launching #TasteTheUnbelievable in January 2024 and bringing back many of the same creators who had helped popularize #SmoothMoves.

In that month alone, #SmoothMoves accrued $650.7k EMV—good for over 10% of Costa Coffee’s annual total, and for the No. 3 spot on the brand’s hashtag leaderboard.

In March 2023, at the very beginning of CreatorIQ’s investigation, Costa Coffee was in the midst of its #SmoothMoves campaign, which saw creators on TikTok and YouTube share how the smooth taste of Costa Coffee keeps them moving smoothly when traveling or on the go.

View this post on Instagram

The Power of Timely Campaigns

of 3

Costa Coffee Key Strategies

How did Costa Coffee brew up this success despite modest expansions of its creator community and post count? Pull up a stool and we’ll tell you

A common sight on the streets of London, Costa Coffee ranked at No. 9 on the European Quick-Service Restaurants Top 25 leaderboard. The coffee franchise pulled in $6.2M EMV, a 93% YoY growth that outpaced the set’s notably high 67% average.

Top 25 Ranking

$6.2M

EMV

93%

YoY EMV Growth

Percent EMV from Powerhouse Creators

350%

65%

U.S.

308%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Engagements

250%

94%

U.S.

211%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Impressions

41%

U.S.

38%

Europe

Average YoY Growth EMV

European QSRs averaged a 67% YoY EMV growth, outranking a strong 55% YoY EMV growth from U.S. QSRs.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

13%

22%

5,201

1,141

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

20%

23%

14,681

2,901

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

65%

308%

187,916,127

9,399,035

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

94%

211%

1,343,833,864

199,896,249

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

55%

67%

$72,821,676

$12,639,260

Creator Panel

Influencer Tier

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

Europe

U.S.

-4%

-8%

13%

Europe

U.S.

42%

48%

12%

16%

Europe

U.S.

22%

39%

19%

23%

Europe

U.S.

-7%

-3%

60%

48%

Percent EMV by Influencer Tier

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

83%

501%

$60,143,036

$1,663,549

Europe

U.S.

81%

237%

$21,534,078

$3,974,974

Europe

U.S.

Europe

U.S.

47%

66%

$27,638,096

$5,008,193

EMV by Social Platform

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

Quick-Service Restaurants

U.S.

Europe

60%

48%

Go Back

Click to view TikTok

@sydgrows

Click to view TikTok

@dpersy

Click to view TikTok

@lottiealicelamb

Georgina Rodríguez (@georginagio)

In addition to powerhouse creators, Costa Coffee also benefited from an influx of brand fans who hadn’t posted about the brand during the preceding year.

New-Wave Coffee

Click to view TikTok

@the_bakeking

Click to view TikTok

@holly.laing

Click to view TikTok

@coleanderson.j

While this proportion was well below the Top 25’s 48% average, it also represented a whopping 216% YoY surge, demonstrating a notable shift in Costa Coffee’s influencer marketing strategy.

These creators, who boast >1M followers on their primary social channel, accounted for 32% of Costa Coffee’s EMV.

In part due to the aforementioned campaigns, Costa Coffee drew upon powerhouse creators to a greater degree than ever before.

View this post on TikTok

A Powerhouse Boost

Click to view TikTok

@katiktr

Click to view TikTok

@manon.terles

While #TasteTheUnbelievable netted just $227.5k EMV, it demonstrated how Costa Coffee can successfully mobilize a consistent creator community around campaign content.

In that month alone, #SmoothMoves accrued $650.7k EMV—good for over 10% of Costa Coffee’s annual total, and for the No. 3 spot on the brand’s hashtag leaderboard.

View this post on Instagram

The Power of Timely Campaigns

of 3

Costa Coffee Key Strategies

How did Costa Coffee brew up this success despite modest expansions of its creator community and post count? Pull up a stool and we’ll tell you

Top 25 Ranking

$6.2M

EMV

93%

YoY EMV Growth

U.S.

Europe

60%

48%

Percent EMV from Powerhouse Creators

350%

65%

U.S.

308%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Engagements

250%

94%

U.S.

211%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Impressions

55%

U.S.

67%

Europe

Average YoY Growth EMV

European QSRs averaged a 67% YoY EMV growth, outranking a strong 55% YoY EMV growth from U.S. QSRs.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

13%

22%

5,201

1,141

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

20%

23%

14,681

2,901

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

65%

308%

187,916,127

9,399,035

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

94%

211%

1,343,833,864

199,896,249

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

55%

67%

$72,821,676

$12,639,260

Creator Panel

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

Europe

U.S.

-4%

-8%

13%

Europe

U.S.

42%

48%

12%

16%

Europe

U.S.

22%

39%

19%

23%

Europe

U.S.

-7%

-3%

60%

48%

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

83%

501%

$60,143,036

$1,663,549

Europe

U.S.

81%

237%

$21,534,078

$3,974,974

Europe

U.S.

Europe

U.S.

47%

66%

$27,638,096

$5,008,193

EMV by Social Platform

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

Quick-Service Restaurants

The metrics below represent the average of the Top 25 Beauty Brands for both our European and United States Creator Panels. Remember: feel free to reference our glossary for definitions of key metrics.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

20%

13%

8,386

14,652

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

13%

57,770

88,650

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

58%

63%

121,412,767

221,880,454

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

67%

57%

2,883,262,283

3,886,061,420

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

38%

41%

$209,526,706

$323,663,204

Creator Panel

Creator Tier

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

33%

26%

10%

Europe

U.S.

33%

18%

-1%

Europe

U.S.

26%

23%

10%

Europe

U.S.

18%

23%

-1%

Europe

U.S.

Percent EMV by Creator Tier

EMV by Social Platform

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

29%

18%

$220,628,472

$143,988,179

Europe

U.S.

165%

211%

$74,193,863

$50,596,881

Europe

U.S.

10%

$25,865,595

$10,380,107

Europe

U.S.

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

The metrics below represent the average of the Top 25 Luxury Fashion Brands for both our European and United States Creator Panels. Remember: feel free to reference our glossary for definitions of key metrics.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

10,468

6,173

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

-1%

-3%

45,031

33,098

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

17%

182,365,007

85,193,087

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

16%

2,576,893,328

1,294,489,662

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

$118,627,365

$187,136,791

Creator Panel

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

43%

49%

-1%

Europe

U.S.

21%

25%

Europe

U.S.

16%

18%

Europe

U.S.

14%

-1%

-5%

Europe

U.S.

EMV by Social Platform

Table

Graph

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

$149,704,099

$93,834,284

Europe

U.S.

61%

129%

$16,487,316

$12,503,819

Europe

U.S.

34%

$8,711,240

$4,972,920

Europe

U.S.

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

The metrics below represent the average of the Top 25 Non-Alcoholic Beverage Brands for both our European and United States Creator Panels. Remember: feel free to reference our glossary for definitions of key metrics.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

22%

29%

4,304

749

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

28%

29%

17,747

3,970

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

73%

764%

48,217,287

26,188,899

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

98%

555%

1,081,854,433

410,925,470

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

44%

84%

$72,842,106

$28,820,109

Creator Panel

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

Europe

U.S.

-1%

13%

12%

13%

Europe

U.S.

24%

14%

15%

Europe

U.S.

11%

21%

22%

Europe

U.S.

14%

52%

50%

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

95%

236%

$9,576,256

$1,825,299

Europe

U.S.

151%

525%

$12,243,199

$3,300,660

Europe

U.S.

Europe

U.S.

43%

63%

$45,433,514

$20,565,223

EMV by Social Platform

The metrics below represent the average of the Top 25 Alcoholic Beverage Brands for both our European and United States Creator Panels. Remember: feel free to reference our glossary for definitions of key metrics.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

16%

24%

1,621

679

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

28%

69%

5,273

2,184

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

53%

160%

12,970,558

4,553,776

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

52%

199%

284,767,225

80,275,251

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

50%

150%

$29,192,181

$7,232,227

Creator Panel

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

Europe

U.S.

-2%

-5%

12%

Europe

U.S.

16%

Europe

U.S.

24%

20%

23%

Europe

U.S.

-4%

62%

49%

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

82%

293%

$1,940,148

$308,785

Europe

U.S.

130%

2077%

$2,136,503

$481,991

Europe

U.S.

Europe

U.S.

44%

54%

$18,987,458

$5,039,891

EMV by Social Platform

The metrics below represent the average of the Top 10 Streaming Services Brands for both our European and United States Creator Panels. Remember: feel free to reference our glossary for definitions of key metrics.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

-1%

10%

13,991

5,647

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

16%

93,022

42,393

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

13%

83%

419,341,700

167,741,452

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

10%

45%

9,596,547,339

3,714,358,197

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

30%

$579,525,966

$246,207,390

Creator Panel

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

Europe

U.S.

Europe

U.S.

12%

19%

10%

Europe

U.S.

11%

15%

20%

Europe

U.S.

-3%

-1%

71%

64%

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

28%

29%

$206,962,533

$84,445,680

Europe

U.S.

Europe

U.S.

52%

222%

$49,532,278

$29,901,880

Europe

U.S.

23%

$234,599,772

$107,358,914

EMV by Social Platform

The metrics below represent the average of the Top 25 Retailer Brands for both our European and United States Creator Panels. Remember: feel free to reference our glossary for definitions of key metrics.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

18,310

5,190

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

-6%

-1%

148,197

37,988

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

28%

35%

314,636,549

50,064,767

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

40%

42%

8,044,115,290

1,259,768,842

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

18%

20%

$578,535,722

$121,923,883

Creator Panel

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

Europe

U.S.

-8%

-4%

24%

29%

Europe

U.S.

23%

24%

Europe

U.S.

10%

14%

24%

25%

Europe

U.S.

-5%

29%

22%

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

10%

41%

$130,598,805

$25,974,727

Europe

U.S.

88%

125%

$34,205,232

$18,817,106

Europe

U.S.

Europe

U.S.

12%

$301,659,384

$71,871,151

EMV by Social Platform

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

The metrics below represent the average of the Top 25 Apparel Brands for both our European and United States Creator Panels. Remember: feel free to reference our glossary for definitions of key metrics.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

15,976

7,897

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Europe

U.S.

11%

91,103

67,356

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Europe

U.S.

19%

26%

229,049,501

130,731,004

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Europe

U.S.

13%

3,466,506,059

2,040,680,786

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Europe

U.S.

14%

17%

$360,017,303

$224,275,309

Creator Panel

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

Europe

U.S.

-8%

-1%

21%

25%

U.S.

Europe

10%

22%

26%

Europe

U.S.

11%

23%

25%

Europe

U.S.

-3%

-5%

34%

23%

EMV by Social Platform

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

U.S.

Europe

14%

33%

$15,659,803

$7,127,949

Europe

U.S.

39%

110%

$48,823,060

$33,461,589

Europe

U.S.

15%

12%

$281,844,609

$176,307,249

250%

of 3

Creator Tier

Percent EMV by Creator Tier

Creator Tier

Percent EMV by Creator Tier

Creator Tier

Percent EMV by Creator Tier

Creator Tier

Percent EMV by Creator Tier

Creator Tier

Percent EMV by Creator Tier

Creator Tier

Percent EMV by Creator Tier

Creator Tier

Percent EMV by Creator Tier

Europe

U.S.

600%

U.S.

Europe

600%

U.S.

Europe

Top 25 Ranking

$78.5M

EMV

395%

YoY EMV Growth

of 3

PRIME Key Strategies

of 3

Space NK Key Strategies

Top 25 Ranking

126%

93%

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19%

U.S.

26%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Engagements

$600M

41%

U.S.

38%

Europe

Average YoY Growth EMV

U.S.

Europe

of 3

Rabanne Key Strategies

Top 25 Ranking

$72.4M

EMV

57%

Aug 2023 – Feb 2024

U.S.

Europe

Average YoY Growth EMV

61%

U.S.

129%

Europe

Average YoY Growth TikTok EMV

+29%

-10%

10%

of 3

Gymshark Key Strategies

Top 25 Ranking

54%

48%

YoY EMV Growth

U.S.

Europe

71%

64%

100%

13%

U.S.

83%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Engagements

100%

10%

U.S.

45%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Impressions

U.S.

30%

Europe

Average YoY Growth EMV

of 3

Spotify Key Strategies

Top 25 Ranking

$900.5

EMV

58%

YoY EMV Growth

50%

U.S.

150%

Europe

+50%

200%

53%

U.S.

160%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Engagements

200%

52%

U.S.

199%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Impressions

of 3

Guinness Key Strategies

Top 25 Ranking

$16.8M

EMV

82%

YoY EMV Growth

$35.8M

via 2.0k posts

EMV

No. 1 EMV Driver

$8.2M

EMV

No. 2 EMV Driver

800%

764%

Europe

73%

U.S.

Average YoY Growth Engagements

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Powerhouse Creator

Creator with over 1M followers on their primary channel.

Established Creator

Creator with 300k to 1M followers on their primary channel.

Mid-Tier Creator

Creator with 100k to 1M followers on their primary channel

Micro-Creator

Creator with fewer than 100k followers on their primary channel.

Creator Tiers

Let's Go

How can you apply it to your brand or organization?

The answer, as always, is ‘keep reading.’

Want to learn more?

Visit the CreatorIQ Resource Center to stay up to date with the latest trends and data-driven insights on the creator economy.

Top Three

Explore More Insights

Thousands of the world’s most innovative brands use CreatorIQ, including AB InBev, CVS, Disney, Logitech, Nestlé, Red Bull, Sephora, Unilever and more. Learn more at CreatorIQ.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

CreatorIQ is the most trusted influencer marketing platform for organizations looking to advance their creator marketing. Its enterprise-grade technology and industry-leading intelligence facilitates scaled creator discovery, streamlined workflows and robust reporting, while ensuring compliance and brand safety.

creatoriq.com

The European Creator Economy is just getting started—so you should, too.

While America prides itself as a land of new ideas, Europe is emerging as a hotbed of influencer marketing innovation. How else can you explain how brands with decades (Space NK) or even centuries (Guinness) of experience have taken to influencer marketing like a fish to water—or, say, a toucan to a nice pint of stout? Because if there’s one single point you should come away from this report with, it’s this: key European industries aren’t on par with America in terms of raw metrics totals, but they’re growing at a faster rate. In other words, the Creator Economy in Europe is where the Creator Economy in America recently was. And if the U.S. market is an indicator how powerful the Creator Economy can become, then it appears that the European Creator Economy is poised for very big things very soon.

Go Back

Frame initiatives as a chance to build and reward your community—not to drive a bottom line.

When Gymshark arms its passionate community with affiliate codes, it’s not just because that’s a lucrative model for driving product. It’s also because these codes are a point of pride for fitness creators whom Gymshark has supported through a long, grueling process, and who have grown their followings and increased their industry knowledge thanks to the brand’s guidance. When PRIME mobilizes its community around Misfits Boxing content or Fight Night content, it’s because the brand’s founders—creators themselves—understand the importance of meeting consumers where they are: in groups designed for like-minded hobbyists and fans. And when Rabanne collaborates with H&M or launches a makeup line, the brand takes its newfound creator fans along for the ride, furnishing them with opportunities for advancement. The result is a self-sustaining ecosystem that makes for more engaged creators, happier consumers, and yes, profit.

Understand that there’s no one path to success—but influencer marketing is the path.

As should be clear from our eight amazing highlight brands, there’s more than one way to secure EMV growth. Some brands, like L’Oréal Paris, went big on traditional events like the Cannes Film Festival, while Spotify continued its path toward total media domination. Others, like Costa Coffee, just wanted to remind consumers that their wares are a nice companion for the morning commute. What all these brands did was put creators, large and small, at the forefront of their communications and marketing strategies. That’s because these brands understand how creator content resonates more deeply with consumers, securing buy-in that will help these brands grow with their creators. So in the end it doesn’t matter whether you’re a billion-dollar brand, or just a small brand looking to build on some positive EMV gains: the time to invest in your influencer marketing program is now.

to Learn From

Creator Marketing Strategies

Europe

What can you do with this information?

In addition to powerhouse creators, Costa Coffee also benefited from an influx of brand fans who hadn’t posted about the brand during the preceding year.

New-Wave Coffee

While this proportion was well below the Top 25’s 48% average, it also represented a whopping 216% YoY surge, demonstrating a notable shift in Costa Coffee’s influencer marketing strategy.

In part due to the aforementioned campaigns, Costa Coffee drew upon powerhouse creators to a greater degree than ever before.

A Powerhouse Boost

Click to view TikTok

@katiktr

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@manon.terles

In that month alone, #SmoothMoves accrued $650.7k EMV—good for over 10% of Costa Coffee’s annual total, and for the No. 3 spot on the brand’s hashtag leaderboard.

The Power of Timely Campaigns

of 3

Costa Coffee Key Strategies

How did Costa Coffee brew up this success despite modest expansions of its creator community and post count? Pull up a stool and we’ll tell you

Top 25 Ranking

$6.2M

EMV

93%

YoY EMV Growth

60%

48%

U.S.

Europe

Percent EMV from Powerhouse Creators

350%

65%

U.S.

308%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Engagements

250%

94%

U.S.

211%

Europe

Average YoY Growth Impressions

41%

U.S.

38%

Europe

Average YoY Growth EMV

European QSRs averaged a 67% YoY EMV growth, outranking a strong 55% YoY EMV growth from U.S. QSRs.

YoY Change

Creators

Creator Panel

Number of Creators

Average

Europe

U.S.

13%

22%

5,201

1,141

YoY Change

Posts

Creator Panel

Number of Posts

Average

Europe

U.S.

20%

23%

14,681

2,901

YoY Change

Engagement

Creator Panel

Total Engagement

Average

Europe

U.S.

65%

308%

187,916,127

9,399,035

YoY Change

Est. Impressions

Creator Panel

Estimated Impressions

Average

Europe

U.S.

94%

211%

1,343,833,864

199,896,249

YoY Change

EMV

Creator Panel

EMV

Average

Europe

U.S.

55%

67%

$72,821,676

$12,639,260

Creator Panel

Influencer Tier

Percent EMV

YoY Change

Powerhouse

Established

Mid-Tier

Micro

Europe

U.S.

-4%

-8%

13%

Europe

U.S.

42%

48%

12%

16%

Europe

U.S.

22%

39%

19%

23%

Europe

U.S.

-7%

-3%

60%

48%

Percent EMV by Influencer Tier

Creator Panel

Social Platform

EMV

YoY Change

Instagram

TikTok

YouTube

83%

501%

$60,143,036

$1,663,549

Europe

U.S.

81%

237%

$21,534,078

$3,974,974

Europe

U.S.

Europe

U.S.

47%

66%

$27,638,096

$5,008,193

EMV by Social Platform

Brand Spotlight

Metrics Explanation

Metrics

Quick-Service Restaurants

While #TasteTheUnbelievable netted just $227.5k EMV, it demonstrated how Costa Coffee can successfully mobilize a consistent creator community around campaign content.

These creators, who boast >1M followers on their primary social channel, accounted for 32% of Costa Coffee’s EMV.

View this post on TikTok

View this post on Instagram

Click to view TikTok

@holly.laing

Click to view TikTok

@coleanderson.j

Click to view TikTok

@the_bakeking

U.S.

Europe

60%

48%