Kolsquare’s Influencer Marketing Trends report 2025 - influencer's paid less with move towards ethics

The latest Influencer Marketing Trends report from Europe’s leading Influencer marketing platform Kolsquare, has shown that UK brands are paying influencers less due to a saturated market whilst also seeking to show more diversity, inclusion and equality in their campaigns. 

In the UK, influencer spending will remain high in 2025 with brands spending an average of £848K a year and just over half (51%) planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets in 2025. With increased competition causing a drop in influencer costs, brands want better value from their partnerships and there’ll be a movement towards choosing a select few higher-quality KOLs (key opinion leaders). 

Ethical conduct and transparency are key and half (49%) of UK brands prioritise compliance with corporate ethics when selecting influencers. 94% of brands insist on ethical behavioural codes for influencers.They realise that audience fatigue means they must seek more authentic and meaningful collaborations in response to a demand for more thoughtful and sustainable content. 

Across the board, marketers are using data insights to give them an edge in a competitive space. Kolsquare’s Key Account Manager Alix Dumarest, says: “ Brands today know that intelligent use of data insights will give them the edge. They are also demanding more from their influencers and despite a rise in budgets, influencer fees will continue to fall.”

Beauty sector moving back to Instagram 

Brands have chosen influencers dedicated to a certain network, i.e. TikTok or Instagram. In the beauty sector, they have put their entire budgets into TikTok and are only using Instagram to do mass gifting campaigns that generate stories as they require less effort from influencers and lead to sales. However, this trend is now reversing.  

“Brands that have dropped Instagram are now returning to it. It’s a safe haven,” says Alix. “They know they’ll have a clean brand image and maximum control. There is a much greater understanding of how they can drive impact - many big brands are still struggling to understand how TikTok does this. Due to regulatory uncertainties, TikTok is losing popularity.”

Competitor analysis is key 

Alix also explains that Kolsquare’s listening module is becoming increasingly popular. “Marketers want to know which of their competitors are a threat. They are interested in share of voice and rankings. They analyse the highlights, content, and top influencers of competitor campaigns as well as their own.”  

In the UK, Facebook is used by 72% of brands and the shift towards Instagram (used by 71% of brands) continues. The UK also has the highest level of regulatory compliance in Europe with 76% of brands sticking to regulatory standards.