New data reveals how much brands pay influencers

Sponsored content by social media influencers is becoming more expensive, with video content commanding the highest price. In fact, high costs are listed as one of the most important marketing challenges when it comes to working with social media influencers. A new report from eMarketer reveals that even new influencers, those with between 500 and 5,000 followers, make an average of $315 per YouTube video.

Naturally, the price of sponsored video content increases for influencers with more followers than this threshold. The 30,000 and 500,000 people, called “professional” influencers, charge an average of $782 per video. Data shows that brands pay well for video content on Instagram, too.

Micro-influencers earn on average $114 per video post, $100 for a visual post, and $43 per story. In response to rising costs, marketers are moving towards working with micro-influencers who are more cost-effective than working with high-profile talent. Marketers are increasingly interested in paying for sponsored Instagram Stories, which cost less than all other types of sponsored content.

According to another report from eMarketer, marketers are expected to spend $1 billion on podcast ads in the next few years, so influencer marketing is entering this space as well. It appears that social media and podcast influencers will benefit the most from this shift in spending.

For mega influencers this means that in addition to the reduced organic reach of their posts, the number of sponsored content opportunities may also decrease.