By Alexander Lee and Krystal Scanlon  •  August 4, 2025  •

Ivy Liu

Daniella Corredor, an associate account director for the creator marketing company Open Influence, said that she had recently led a presentation for clients specifically about the causes behind creators’ rising rates and how to navigate the changing landscape.

“They’re trying to learn from us how to navigate those asks, when someone was asking for $20,000 yesterday, and then, in two months, they want $40,000,” she said. 

Steph Ross, vp of social and influencer for the social media agency Born Social, said that influencer rates had “doubled” from 2024, but that her clients were largely unconcerned about the increases because they have also ramped up their influencer marketing spend. She said that influencers’ increased rates were simply a result of that growing demand.

“I have seen that especially now, because it is more typical to work on a long-term basis, or in long-term partnerships with creators, rather than on a one-off basis,” Ross said. “We’ll be working with creators on a three-month or six-month contract, and then the same people that we’ve already worked with will then be planning for the next year — and we are seeing that creator’s follower count getting bigger and them becoming more successful, so as a result, their fees are then increasing.”

A significant contributor to influencers’ growing fees is that brands are moving more quickly with their influencer marketing as they step up their spending in the area, according to Ross and Tiah Slattery, head of influencer for the U.K. at the agency Dept. Slattery estimated that overall influencer marketing spend had risen by 30 to 40 percent in 2025, citing Unilever’s recent announcement that it would spend half of its marketing budget on social channels as one motivator for other advertisers to step up their creator marketing spend this year. 

Slattery said that marketers are increasingly understanding that creators are at their best when reacting quickly to viral trends, rather than scheduling campaigns months in advance, prompting them to request quicker turnarounds on their sponsored posts — and higher rates as a result. 

“If we only have two weeks to get something live, we are paying 50 to 100 percent more than what we would pay if we had a typical six-to-eight week lead time,” she said. “What that then can mean is clients are paying through the roof, because they’re not organized and they’re coming to us too late.”

Creators are also charging higher sponsorship rates because they understand that they are taking on an increasingly central role in brands’ marketing plans. Creators who were previously willing to negotiate lower fees to secure business are more confident sticking to their higher rates, per Slattery. It’s also becoming more common for creators to charge extra fees for exclusivity or the rights to use their content on other channels, which they previously might have signed away as a cheap or free add-on to help close a deal.

“We’re not just paying for the content anymore; we’re paying to use their content across multiple channels, in multiple formats. We’re editing it, we’re adding to it, and we’re using their face to be connected to the brand in a way that never used to happen before,” said Hannah Ryan, global vp of campaign delivery at The Goat Agency. “That is probably the biggest shift that we’re seeing in not only the way influencers are being used, but also the way they’re pricing themselves.”

To some extent, creators’ higher rates are simply a result of the growing demand for influencer inventory as brands step up their influencer marketing spend across the board. With total ad spend in the creator economy rising, creators commanding high rates are finding more willing buyers in 2025.

“They know that brands are making money off of these posts. If a brand keeps coming back and rebooking a creator, clearly they are performing well for the brand,” said influencer talent manager and marketer Kendall Gall. “Their rates increase, because they know their value.”

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