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It’s official. We’re quitting our jobs and becoming email-newsletter influencers on YouTube instead.
According to a new report that influencer marketing agency The Outloud Group shared exclusively with Marketing Brew, influencer CPMs went up across major verticals on YouTube—from beauty and fashion to education—in 2021.
- What’s more, when the agency pulled its data for 2022 thus far, CPMs continued to increase for 15 out of the 16 verticals studied (with the exception of military influencers).
For instance, in 2021, the median CPM for gaming influencers on YouTube was $54.68. In the first half of 2022, it’s $66.48. For this report, The Outloud Group looked at actual CPMs from historic campaigns rather than forecasted CPMs. The agency pulled the data from 12,454 “unique YouTube influencer activations” across 237 brands in the time period between January 2018 and May 2022.
The Outloud Group
$$$: Outside of CPMs, The Outloud Group’s VP, client strategy Nycole Kelly told us that influencers are charging more for their services “across the board” and on YouTube in general, with rates continuing to increase at a stable pace.
Big picture: According to eMarketer, in 2021, 40.8% of US marketers used YouTube as an influencer marketing channel. That figure is predicted to grow to 42.5% this year.
The Outloud Group’s report attributes the rise in CPMs to two things: Increased interest in influencer marketing due to the pandemic and iOS 14 privacy changes. While only time can tell how CPMs will evolve from here, the report notes that the agency “wouldn’t be surprised” to see them continue “an upward climb.”