Influencer marketing isn’t just growing in the UK, it’s accelerating faster than any other market in Europe. Powered by rising budgets, micro-creator momentum and a data-driven mindset, new Kolsquare research shows how British brands are redefining what mature, scaled influencer marketing looks like today.
With budgets growing, tools multiplying, and brands scaling operations faster than anywhere else in Europe, the UK’s maturity and mastery of influencer marketing is undeniable.
New data exclusive to Kolsquare reveals a massive 81% of UK brands and agencies expect influencer marketing budgets to increase in the coming year, and 17% plan to grow them by 50% or more. That’s more than double the European average of 8%.
Kolsquare’s The State of Influencer Marketing in Europe 2025 survey questioned 613 decision makers in influencer marketing across seven countries in September/October this year, including 96 respondents in the UK.
It found that six in 10 UK companies currently spend more than £100,000 annually on influencer campaigns (compared with 57% across Europe spending €100,000-plus), making the country one of the continent’s biggest investors, just behind Germany and Italy.
Conducted in partnership with B2B market research provider NewtonX, the survey confirms British bullishness around driving business growth through influencer marketing, with companies of all sizes and from all sectors overwhelmingly planning to increase collaborations with key opinion leaders (KOLs).
One of the study’s most striking findings is the extent to which UK brands are scaling their KOL pools and strategies. Some 23% of UK brands are working with more than 100 KOLs per year, more than any other country, and a full five points ahead of the European average.
The UK is the most bullish market in Europe, with 28% of brands having increased the number of creators they work with by 50% or more in the past year (compared with the EU average of 19%). In total, 64% of UK brands grew the number of KOL collaborations by at least 10%, and 84% plan to keep expanding next year, well ahead of the European average of 75% of brands that plan to work with more KOLs in 2026.
This growth is being driven by a clear focus on smaller, high-engagement creators. A huge 93% of UK marketers work with micro-influencers, and 60% with nano-influencers, both well above the European averages (86% and 47%, respectively).
The UK is, in fact, the most invested market in nanos. It’s a sign of brands prioritizing community trust and authenticity over vanity metrics, influence measured by resonance, not reach.
“Growth of short-form video continues to define how brands and consumers engage,” an account director in the beauty and cosmetics sector with a budget of £50,000-£75,000 told the survey. “Platforms like TikTok allow for better storytelling. At the same time, brands are shifting from one-off campaigns to longer, sustainable partnerships to build familiarity and trust over time.”
When it comes to who they work with, UK marketers are keeping things fresh. Only 23% always or mostly work with the same influencers (versus 33% EU average), placing the UK among the top countries for discovering new voices, alongside Spain and Italy.
Their approach to campaigns is a blend of creativity and experimentation. UK brands balance short-term (29.97%) and long-term (24.43%) collaborations, and also lead on formats that drive participation and visibility.
Forty percent of brands and agencies are running gifting campaigns – the highest rate alongside France – even as gifting declines elsewhere in Europe. Nearly half (48%) run ambassador programmes, 33% tap into affiliate marketing (versus 27% EU average), and 68% co-create content with influencers.
Looking ahead to 2026, UK marketers agree with their European peers on the need to prioritize increased investments in UGC (58%), paid media (69%), and long-term partnerships (65%). They are, however, the most bullish on these indicators, tracking higher than the European average, and six points higher on prioritizing long-term partnerships.
“Clients are demanding more strategy behind Reels as opposed to longer-form content,” an influencer content manager at a UK agency with a budget of £75,000–£100,000 said. “The shift towards short-form, snackable video is real.”
As influencer marketing has become more firmly entrenched in the marketing mix, brands are seeking greater visibility and control over the strategy.
An overwhelming 90% of UK teams manage influencer marketing internally, though 49% combine this with agency support. This figure is only slightly below the European average of 51% of brands that manage influencer marketing in-house with agency support.
The UK is also among Europe’s leading markets when it comes to the adoption of dedicated influencer platforms to support strategies. Thirty-eight percent of brands and agencies use dedicated influencer marketing platforms, roughly in line with the European average but slightly behind France, Spain, and Italy, while still ahead of Germany.
That maturity shows up elsewhere, too: UK marketers are far less likely to nominate finding the right influencers or shifting audiences as challenges than their European peers, revealing entrenched expertise in wielding data to leverage influence.
In parallel, half of UK brands say they now integrate influencer activity into PR and communications (52%), broader campaigns (46%), and paid media amplification (46%).
“Like many emerging capabilities, influencer marketing will develop from a siloed activity led by PR into a planned, core component led by brand teams,” replied a media lead at a UK food and beverage manufacturer with budget spend of £500,000–£1m to the survey. “That shift is already happening.”
New structures and expertise are being accompanied by greater scrutiny.
With 70% of UK marketers today requiring creators to follow advertising regulations and 64% insisting on clear labeling of sponsored content, the UK is one of Europe’s most compliance-conscious markets.
UK marketers also show strong concern that KOLs do not promote sensitive products (alcohol, cryptocurrency, cosmetic surgery, etc) but are the least likely to require influencers to comply with corporate or ethical charters.
UK marketers perceive the market challenges a bit differently, too. Marketers nominate balancing influencer freedom with brand control as the top pain point in the UK, whereas this issue does not even rate in the top three challenges for other countries.
Measuring ROI (39%), rising costs (33%), and data reliability (26%) are also top challenges for UK influencer marketers.
“Better measurement and ROI,” sums up a marketing director in retail with a budget of £200,000–£500,000. “That’s what everyone’s chasing right now.”
Grumpiness around the regulatory environment is also evident, with 16% of marketers saying new laws are difficult to navigate, a higher rate than in any other country and a full seven points above the average.
When asked about the biggest opportunities ahead, UK marketers point decisively towards integration and intelligence. Deeper integration of influencer content into paid campaigns is recognized as the top opportunity for influencer marketers in the coming year, followed by increasing use of AI to optimize campaigns. In this indicator, UK marketers track eight points ahead of the market average.
“AI is necessarily impacting all aspects of marketing, and it’ll make influencer management more efficient,” a global senior marketing director in the beauty sector, with a budget of £3.01M–£5M, told the survey. “Authenticity is the macro trend that will only keep growing.”
The UK leads Europe in confidence, integration, and professional discipline, investing heavily, automating processes, and building data-driven strategies that sit comfortably alongside PR, paid media, and brand storytelling.
The all-in mindset on micro and nano influence challenges brands to combine scale with intimacy: building extensive creator networks while keeping storytelling authentic and audience relationships personal.
As collaborations multiply, the role of influencer marketing teams will continue to evolve from campaign management to ecosystem orchestration that balances hundreds of micro-relationships, automated workflows, and measurable ROI. The emphasis will not only be on who you work with but how those partnerships ladder up to long-term brand equity and impact.
Short-form content dominance will also push marketers to act even faster, testing and iterating creative ideas at the speed of the feed. This will demand closer collaboration between influence, social, and paid media teams, as well as greater reliance on AI for creator matching, content repurposing, and performance optimization.
In 2026, the brands that win will be running always-on creator ecosystems where KOLs are treated as media partners, not just collaborators. Relationships will be deeper and expectations higher.
Campaigns will be automatically optimized in real time, powered by AI that analyses creator performance, brand sentiment, and audience overlap across channels.
In this new landscape, the true differentiator won’t be access to creators, but access to insight. And that’s where Kolsquare sees the UK heading fastest: toward a model where influence is not only measurable but predictable.
