Influencers: record investments at 425 million but the stellar fees of VIPs collapse

Influencers’ stellar salaries are collapsing despite him investments have reached the record figure of 425 million with an increase of 10% compared to 2025. This is what emerges from the DeRev Report which updates the list of influencers’ compensation. For the third consecutive year, according to what emerges from the report, the salaries of top influencers and Celebrity recorded losses across all platforms, with a heavy -18.8% on Facebook, -9.5% on Instagram, -8.6% on TikTok and -2.4% on YouTube.

What empties the wallet of influencers

Emptying the wallets of mega-VIPs is a precise strategic choice by brands, tired of paying astronomical sums to ultra-generalist communities where commercial effectiveness is difficult to measure. The so-called intermediate profiles that position themselves between the ‘big’ and creators with few followers benefit from the new trend. 63.2% of celebrities have lost followers in the last year

Who is eroding the market shares of the big names?

The new kings of the price lists are i Mid-Tier e i Macro influencer. They are the only two categories to see leaps in compensation across the three main platforms. On Instagram, Mid-tier earnings rose by +9.2% and Macro earnings by +7.1%; similar trend on TikTok, where the former grew by +7.1% and the latter by +7.6%. The reasons for this boom are purely mathematical and economic. The intermediate profiles boast growing communities, respectively +17.7% and +16.9% in the year, and, above all, a Post interaction rate of 4.56% on Instagram, three times higher than that of Celebrities, which stands at 1.61%. Companies have understood this and prefer to pay the right amount to have a real, active and loyal audience.

The geography of compensation varies drastically depending on the social network. Instagram the safe of the is confirmed creator economy. Content volumes increase everywhere, up to +100.5% for Micros, and the change in average compensation is positive both on individual posts (+2.45%) and on story sets (+3.8%).

YouTube remains the platform that recognizes the highest economic value for single content. Although Shorts dominate the frequency of publication, commercial budgets are concentrated on long videos: 29% of them contain a declared sponsorship and 74.9% present a commercial call to action. Long videos see compensation grow by 5% for Macro and 2.9% for Mid-tier. Shorts are listed for the first time as an independent format, priced at around a third of traditional video. TikTok sees its average values ​​stabilize at -0.33% after the collapses of past years, but with the usual selective dynamic in favor of the intermediate bands.

It is always the same historic sectors that pull the strings of spending

The Fashion and Beauty sector leads the charge, catalyzing 27% of total investments, up by one percentage point. Silver medal for Food and Beverage, stable at 18%, followed closely by Gaming and Tech and Travel and Lifestyle, both at 13.5%. The Business and Finance sector is starting to make its way, despite remaining a niche, going from 2.5% to 3%: a restricted market where there are very few qualified creators, the reputational risk is very high and editorial authority comes at a high price.

As explained by CEO of DeRev, Roberto Esposito, il Ferragni case it acted as an accelerator, making companies extremely cautious in the face of media overexposure. “The credibility of a creator – he explained – is based on the trust placed in him by those who choose to follow him. When this fails, brands quickly withdraw, and they do so to a much greater extent than the loss of followers alone suggests. At the moment the Italian market is much more attentive to reputational risk than it was three years ago”.