Brands Shift From Follower Counts to Creator Value

Brands used to choose online creators mainly by counting their followers.

Now they also want to know whether those followers are real and pay attention.

They check comments, messages, sales and whether creators complete their work on time.

They also value creators who understand a local language or community.

This has made smaller creators more attractive to advertisers.

In India, many more people became creators between 2020 and 2025.

Artificial intelligence can help agencies manage many small creators at once.

However, more creators competing for work has meant that most active creators get only about one paid campaign a year.

One industry representative said better data may also make creator prices more transparent rather than automatically lowering payments.