InfluenceMe 2026 – Influencer Marketing has won attention: the next challenge is driving business impact 

For years, influencer marketing was primarily judged by visibility: reach, views, engagement rates, and follower counts. But as the channel matures, a more important question emerges: what happens after attention?

The latest findings from InfluenceMe 2026 study, performed by Starcom Romania and launched at the Influencer Marketing Conference, suggest that influencer marketing has entered a new stage of evolution. Consumers are more connected to influencers than ever before, but brands now need to work harder to translate that attention into consideration, loyalty, relevance, and long-term growth.

“InfluenceMe 2026 provides a highly accurate snapshot of today’s communications and influencer marketing landscape. In recent years, we have moved rapidly from an era defined by the quality of content to one increasingly driven by the pursuit of metrics. The industry’s growing focus on ‘delivering numbers’, often at the expense of qualitative criteria in influencer selection, has led us to a crowded environment where meaningful differentiation is becoming harder to achieve.

We used to start with the story and the message, with performance results following naturally from a strategic approach. Today, however, the spreadsheet often comes first. At the same time, consumers are exposed to more content and more stimuli than ever before, which means brand visibility alone is no longer enough. To earn a place in consumers’ consideration set, brands need something more: a compelling story, genuine relevance and, ultimately, time to build meaningful connections.

The encouraging news is that brands that embrace these realities and work with the right partners will be well positioned to stand out and strengthen consumer loyalty.” – Andreea Lupu, Innovation Lead, Starcom Romania

The era of influencer saturation has arrived

Today, 83% of consumers follow at least one influencer, a significant increase from 50% in 2018. The opportunity is enormous, but so is the competition. The battle is no longer about reaching audiences. It is about earning their attention in an increasingly crowded creator ecosystem.

At the same time, consumers have become much more advertising literate. Nearly two-thirds (65%) recognize influencer collaborations as advertising. In other words, audiences are not being fooled. They understand the commercial relationship.

This changes the brief for marketers. The goal is no longer to make sponsored content feel invisible. The goal is to make it valuable enough that people choose to watch it.

Awareness is strong, but deeper impact remains harder to achieve.

The study highlights a clear pattern: influencer marketing is very effective at driving awareness, but less effective at moving consumers further down the funnel. Awareness was the only metric showing a significant increase, while consideration, loyalty, relevance and brand love remained relatively stable.

This is not necessarily a weakness of the channel. Rather, it signals that many campaigns are optimized for visibility rather than for business outcomes.

Different objectives require different influencer strategies

One of the most valuable findings is that different campaign formats drive different outcomes:

• for awareness, the most successful campaigns combine multiple influencers, celebrities, large-scale activations, partnerships with events and continuous exposure across channels;
• for research and exploration, consumers respond strongly to product launches, innovations and content supported by concrete benefits such as discounts, promotional offers, giveaways or exclusive access;
• for consideration, banking and FMCG campaigns perform particularly well because these categories naturally fit into shorter purchase cycles. In contrast, sectors such as automotive and technology often require stronger calls to action to accelerate decision-making.

“A few years ago, the challenge was reaching people. Today, it’s capturing their attention and staying relevant. As influencer marketing matures, exposure alone no longer drives results. Brands succeed through relevant content that supports business goals and builds genuine audience connections.” said Mirela Mirică, Media Research Specialist at Starcom Romania.

Loyalty is built through consistency, not campaign bursts

Perhaps the most important insight for marketers is that long-term brand metrics cannot be purchased with isolated executions.
The strongest drivers of loyalty were campaigns that maintained a consistent presence, leveraged authentic partnerships and connected with culturally relevant moments.
Similarly, relevance increased when brands showed up in contexts that naturally aligned with consumer interests and cultural conversations.

This supports an important shift in thinking. Influencers should be viewed less as media placements and more as long-term brand assets. Ongoing relationships create familiarity, credibility and emotional connection that one-off partnerships rarely achieve.

Brand love still belongs to storytelling

The study also reminds us that emotional outcomes are different from transactional outcomes. Brand love is created through storytelling, emotional triggers, cultural symbols and meaningful benefits that resonate with consumers over time.

In an environment where audiences are constantly exposed to sponsored content, stories become an increasingly important differentiator. The brands that create narratives people want to follow are more likely to build lasting connections than those focused solely on promotional messages.

The short version of InfluenceMe 2026 is available below.
For more insights, contact consumer@starcomww.com. The study offers a closer look at how consumers engage with influencer content – from the platforms where campaigns are most visible to the creators, emotions, and formats that drive lasting impact. It also explores podcast listening habits, preferred content types, and key audience profiles shaping today’s influence landscape. 

Methodology
The study was conducted by the media agency Starcom Romania using the online Ad Impact methodology, based on a sample of 2428 individuals, both female and male, aged 18 and over, internet users from urban areas, during August 2026.

About HumanGraphExperience
HumanGraphExperience is an infographic series based on quantitative research that analyzes the characteristics of target groups in relation to specific product categories (such as sweets, beer, or luxury goods), particular occasions (like Easter, Christmas, or Black Friday), or emerging communication phenomena (for example, influencer marketing or technology adoption).