IAB Global Creator Week in Five Numbers
The Performance Creator · Insights · 17 September 2026
IAB Global Creator Week in five numbers
Seventeen markets, one week, one argument: creators are a core media channel, the job now is measurement, and the reason it matters is AI.
The IAB ran its first Global Creator Week this week, with events in 17 countries and a new upfront in New York built entirely around creators. A lot was said. Most of it can be reduced to five numbers.
1. 56%
Fifty-six percent of people who use AI to research a purchase want the recommendation to draw on creator reviews. Among Gen Z and Millennials it is 65%. Asked what makes a creator trustworthy enough for the AI to rely on, they ranked credibility (46%), consistency (40%) and expertise (36%) first. Follower count came last, at 21%.
That is the IAB’s Creator Signal study, 2,200 respondents across the US, UK, Australia, Mexico and India, released to open the week. It is the clearest statement yet that creator content is becoming an input to AI answers, not just a social post.
2. 76%
Seventy-six percent of US ad buyers say optimising content for AI-generated answers is now their number one area of increased focus. Creator and influencer partnerships are the single ad format most planned for increased investment, at 54%, ahead of every other type. And 86% of buyers are changing how they measure media because of conversational AI; nearly half now track brand citations inside AI tools directly.
That is the IAB’s September Outlook update, 200 plus brand and agency decision-makers. Read next to the first number, the picture is simple: consumers want creators in the answer, and marketers are already spending to get there.
3. £1.2bn
UK creator partnerships were worth £966m in 2025, growing 20.1% against 9.6% for the rest of digital, and are forecast to pass £1.2bn in 2026, up 26%. It is the first dedicated measurement of the UK market, commissioned by IAB UK. A separate Kolsquare survey found 93% of UK brands expect to increase influencer spend this year, up from 50% two years ago.
The US number is $44bn. Creator marketing is no longer arguing for a seat at the table. It has one, and the trade body is now writing the rules for it.
4. 84%
In Australia, 61% of people discover brands through creators, rising to 85% of under-40s. Before acting on a recommendation, the two things they weigh most are the brand’s reputation (86%) and the creator’s own expertise (84%). Disclosure of a paid partnership dents intent, but only slightly.
That is IAB Australia’s Creator Connect research, released Thursday. Same finding as the Creator Signal, from a different hemisphere: what earns trust is expertise and reputation, not audience size.
5. 2%
Digital audio takes 87 minutes of the average American’s day, level with social, yet it is 16% of media time and 2% of ad spend. Podcast ad revenue still grew 17.6% last year, and 1,300 brands bought podcasts for the first time. Video is now the front door: 49% of podcast listeners use video, 37% of Gen Z prefer it.
That is from the Podcast Upfront on Tuesday, and the line worth keeping came from IAB’s Jason Adamski: “AI is for the workflow, not for the microphone.” The content that connects is the content that sounds unmistakably human.
What the five add up to
Creators are being measured, funded and standardised like a media channel. The reason it matters this year is that the same content is now feeding AI discovery. And the trust signals the machines are being asked to weigh, credibility, consistency, expertise, are the ones human buyers in Australia and everywhere else already use.
Which leaves one question for any brand: of all the questions your buyers ask before they spend, what proportion come back as you? That is the number we call Answerz Share. The first measurement is free. tribeezsocial.com/answerz-check
Sources: IAB, The Creator Signal, 9 Sep 2026, n=2,200. IAB, 2026 Outlook Study September Update, 10 Sep 2026. IAB UK / IRM creator partnerships market sizing, 15 Sep 2026, via DecisionMarketing. Kolsquare, The Future of Influencer Marketing 2026/2027, n=1,123. IAB Australia / Pureprofile Creator Connect, 17 Sep 2026, AU n=1,079, via RadioInfo. IAB Podcast Upfront, 16 Sep 2026, via Podcast News Daily.
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