Influencer campaigns used to be a supplement to digital communication. Today that is no longer true. Creator marketing is not an experiment. It is a standard part of media strategy. Growth is fastest in the US. And for the first time we have realistic Czech data. According to the WOO Influencer Marketing Report Česko 2025, more than CZK 6 billion a year flows through domestic campaigns.
In the United States, creator marketing is one of the fastest-growing media channels. Investment in creator content here is growing four times faster than the media market as a whole and is expected to reach $37 billion in 2025, up 26% year on year from 2024. According to the IAB, almost half of advertisers describe creators as a standard part of the marketing mix. “Creators are no longer an optional add-on. They are a core media strategy,” the report says.
The ability to serve different goals
According to the IAB, brands use creators to build awareness, reach new audiences, strengthen reputation and drive sales. 43% of marketers cite awareness, 41% new audiences, 35% reputation and 32% conversion. “Creators help brands reach wide, build trust, and sell, all in one media format,” the report summarises. This versatility is the reason creator content is gaining more media weight. It works with audiences differently from traditional advertising.
Measurement pressure grows with the budgets. Four in ten brands cite return on investment as their main KPI. The biggest obstacle is not unwillingness to measure but inconsistent methodologies. For one company ROI means conversion, for another attributed traffic or brand lift. “Lack of unified measurement standards holds the industry back,” says the IAB. Unclear methodology is a complication, but also room for innovation. Measuring creator campaigns is becoming a separate technology segment.
The Czech market, sized for the first time
For the first time, Czechia has data showing the size of the creator economy. The WOO Influencer Marketing Report Česko 2025 states that more than CZK 6 billion a year flows through campaigns with creators. It includes paid collaborations, barter, agency services and production costs, so it is the most realistic estimate of the domestic market.
Audiences spend more time with individuals than with brands. The IAB sees this trend as a key factor in why creator marketing is gaining more media weight. “Audiences spend more time with individuals than with institutions,” the report says. Creator content feels more credible than traditional advertising.
Growing budgets also bring greater demands on governance. Choosing a creator is sensitive, because audience quality and reputation are not always easy to measure. Over the next two years, Czech campaigns will probably come closer to American standards.
If a brand is just starting out with collaborations, it should treat them as a full-fledged media channel, with careful choice of partners, clear goals and measurement of impact. If it is already investing, it is worth checking audience quality, the effect on performance and the way results are reported. Creator marketing is not an add-on. It is work with attention and trust. And these two values now matter more than the sheer frequency of ad messages.
Comments