IMPROVING INFLUENCER INCLUSIVITY
A STUDY OF BLACK+ YOUTUBE CREATOR REPRESENTATION & COMPENSATION (JAN 2020 - DEC 2023)
4-YEAR STUDY REVEALS THAT BLACK+ CREATORS ARE UNDERREPRESENTED IN YOUTUBE BRAND DEALS BUT ARE COMPENSATED FOR BRAND DEALS AT RATES GREATER THAN CREATORS AT LARGE
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QUESTIONS WE ARE SEEKING TO ANSWER IN THIS STUDY
How well are Black+ creators represented in influencer marketing brand deals?
How well are Black+ compensated?
Is the influencer marketing industry transparent about Black+ creator representation and compensation?
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INTRODUCTION
Over four years ago, we set out to bring more transparency and ultimately accountability to the industry by sharing information on Black+ creator inclusivity and compensation in influencer brand deals on YouTube. Rather than settle for anecdotal stories or general trends outlined in the press, we embarked on a journey to look at real data associated with the influencer marketing industry, including sharing our own data as a leading agency in this market.
Twice a year for the past four years we’ve poured over campaign data for tens of thousands of brand sponsorships to see where things currently stand within the influencer marketing industry. And while the influencer industry may still be in its infancy, it continues to grow year over year and carries significant weight in society & culture.
In this report, we unpack the findings of our research and what it means moving forward.
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BLACK+ CREATOR STUDY OVERVIEW
Beginning in January 2020, The Outloud Group commissioned an ongoing research study to understand:
(1) Black+ creator representation in brand deals and
(2) Black+ creator compensation relative to the creator population at large
This research includes 275 different brands and 105,726 pieces of content, covering influencer marketing deals completed directly between the creator and the brand [often with the involvement of agencies/agents], as opposed to creators being paid through algorithm-driven ads established by YouTube.
This study spans January 2020 through December 2023, with data published twice annually to help with transparency around representation and compensation in the influencer marketing industry. An industry study found that 92% of influencers believed that the #1 way to address the racial pay gap was through transparency, an approach that The Outloud Group has supported through this study over four years.
Two key insights were discovered as part of Outloud’s 4-year study:
Black+ YouTube creators are under-represented in brand deals by 34.6% relative to the US Black+ population as a whole. In other words, if you were to select someone in the US at random they would be 34.6% more likely to be Black+ than if you picked a creator participating in brand deals on YouTube at random.
It should be noted that these figures reflect paid brand deals set up between creators and the brand, often with the involvement of agents and agencies – and do not reflect pre-roll, mid-roll, or end-roll programmatic ads.Black+ creators were compensated 13.0% higher than the creator pool in general for brand deals during this time period at The Outloud Group, a leading influencer marketing agency that commissioned this study. While we do not have reliable industry data for Black+ creator compensation, we do encourage other entities in the space to share this data to increase industry transparency to continue to make this data set more robust.
In summary, Black+ creators are less likely to participate in brand deals but when they do participate they get compensated at a higher rate per view.
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BLACK+ CREATOR REPRESENTATION IN INFLUENCER MARKETING
While the US Population is 13.6% Black+¹, only 8.9% of creators involved in brand deals between January 2020 through December 2023 were Black+, indicating that Black+ creators were underrepresented by 34.6% relative to the Black+ population as a whole during this period.
In our latest findings, we found industry representation made a notable increase from 8.2% in the first half of 2023 to 12.7% in the latter half of the year. While this still falls below Black+ representation in the U.S. population as a whole [13.6%], it’s the closest representation has been to parity with the US population since our study found influencer industry representation exceeded U.S. population in the second half of 2022 [14.3%]. Our 4-year study is beginning to see a positive trend line with two out of the last three half-year periods being above 12% representation. This emphasizes the need for continued reporting of this data in order to track progress over time, especially, in the ever changing influencer industry.
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BLACK+ CREATOR COMPENSATION
Historical studies by other entities have indicated pay gaps between Black+ creators and creators in general, but these studies have focused on algorithm-driven disparities. This study, in contrast, shows representation & pay differences for influencer brand deals that are negotiated directly between the creator [or their agent] and the brand [or their agency] as opposed to through an algorithm.
Data was sourced from 14,833 YouTube sponsorships run by The Outloud Group between January 2020 through December 2023. Over this time period, creator rates, independent of race, have increased significantly [Figure 3].
In comparing Black+ creator brand deals to the creator pool at large over a period of 48 months, Black+ creators were compensated at a rate of 13.0% higher than the creator pool in general. During this time period, Black+ creators were paid a median CPM of $60.31 compared to $53.37 for creators at large [Figure 4].
The compensation difference between Black+ creators and creators as a whole has largely been consistent over time with the exception of Q3 & Q4 2020. The spike in Black+ creator payments in this time period is correlated with the racial unrest in the United States in the months following the murder of George Floyd.
There are many possible explanations for the differences in median CPM over time for Black+ creators. We believe the opportunity for Black+ creators to engage in dialogue over price and value allows for brands and Black+ creators to align on a fair and equitable price, which is in contrast with the algorithmic pricing which does not involve dialogue or non-programmatic considerations.
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THE OUTLOUD GROUP REPRESENTATION RESULTS
In the most recent 6-month period [Q3 & Q4 2023], The Outloud Group featured Black+ creators in 9.2% of YouTube brand deals compared to 12.7% for the industry as a whole [Figure 5]. While this industry number is below the 13.6% representation of Black+ individuals in the U.S. population, it signifies a notable improvement from previous years. However, despite this progress, the 12.7% representation still highlights the ongoing challenge of achieving proportional representation after 4+ years of underrepresentation in the influencer industry.
As shown in Figure 6, over the four years of this this study, the influencer industry has only included Black+ creators in 8.9% of YouTube sponsorships whereas The Outloud Group has featured Black+ creators in 10.2% of brand deals.
There is a general upward trend in Black+ creator inclusion in The Outloud Group’s YouTube brand deals since the first half of 2020, but representation has plateaued between ~9 & 11% over the last 18 months. During the first 6-month period of this study, The Outloud Group’s Black+ creator inclusion has increased by 27.8% from 1H 2020 to 2H 2023. Over the entirety of this four-year study, The Outloud Group has averaged Black+ representation percentage of 10.2% [Figure 6]. This data indicates both positive improvement and recognition that representation in creator brand deals still trails representation in the nation as a whole.
We attribute the increase in Black+ creator inclusivity at The Outloud Group to increased transparency and tracking. While not all marketing campaigns are designed to target all Americans, we believe in the importance of transparency and purposeful decision-making – and work closely with our brand partners to make thoughtful decisions. We hope that this data serves as a model for increased transparency and increased inclusivity in the industry and society as a whole.
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CONCLUSION
Black Americans make up 13.6% of the US population, but were only in 8.9% of influencer brand deals in 2020 through 2023. And while The Outloud Group’s representation [10.2% of brand deals] was slightly higher than the industry as a whole, these numbers still fall short of US representation as a whole.
As shown in the latest data from Q3 & Q4 of 2023, the representation percentage of Black+ creators in the influencer industry has fluctuated significantly since the start of this study in January 2020, but shows a positive trendline of more inclusivity over time for the industry as a whole. While we observed a milestone in the second half of 2022 with Black+ creator representation exceeding that of the US population, the most recent time period shows Black+ representation below representation in the US population as a whole, but still the second highest rate of representation in the lifetime of the 4-year study. This highlights both the progress and the challenges in achieving consistent and equitable representation.
To continue the positive momentum in Black+ creator representation in the influencer industry, both brands and agencies will need to take further steps towards inclusion in their campaigns. We see transparency as a key driver towards helping brands and agencies alike be mindful of the implications of their choices. By actively normalizing diverse representation, we expect to see a reduction in the gap between the current 8.9% representation and the 13.6% Black+ population in America.
And while we are optimistic, this critical question remains unanswered: will the influencer marketing industry continue to make progress when it comes to Black+ creator representation in brand deals?
We remain committed to proactively seeking out Black+ creator talent with ongoing brand deals and consciously striving to ensure that these Black+ creators are equitably compensated for their participation in brand deals.
The influencer marketing industry is a leading force at the intersection of marketing and culture – and there’s still work to be done when it comes to representing Black+ creators in brand deals. We believe that transparency is the #1 driver for improvement in inclusivity and The Outloud Group remains committed to providing this transparency for our agency and the industry as a whole.
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CREATOR REPRESENTATION METHODOLOGY
The Outloud Group conducted this analysis to benchmark Black+ creator representation in the Influencer Marketing industry for 2020 - 2023 using two sets of data:
-- The Outloud Group’s proprietary data²
-- Tubular Lab’s Dealmaker data³
The Outloud Group’s data consisted of 14,833 unique sponsored YouTube videos across 255 brands while Tubular Lab’s Dealmaker data consisted of 90,893 unique sponsored YouTube videos from the top 20 most active US brands in YouTube influencer marketing. All videos included in this study were published between January 1st, 2020 and December 31st, 2023. The 105,726 total videos were reviewed by humans with a simple binary tag, which marked if the YouTube channel that published each video featured a Black+ creator or not.
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CREATOR PAY GAP METHODOLOGY
The Outloud Group conducted this analysis to benchmark Black+ creator compensation across Outloud’s influencer marketing campaigns for 2020 - 2023. This study incorporated four years of The Outloud Group’s proprietary payment data.⁵
The Outloud Group’s data consisted of 14,833 unique sponsored YouTube videos across 255 brands where a creator was monetarily compensated⁶. All payments included in this study were made for videos published between January 1st, 2020 and December 31st,2023.
The CPMs⁷ were calculated by dividing the monetary payment each creator received [in USD] by the number of views to date [in thousands] that each video has received on YouTube⁸.
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ABOUT THE OUTLOUD GROUP
The Outloud Group is a full-service influencer marketing agency that creates & executes strategic campaigns to deliver measurable results. We combine art & science to authentically tell brand stories at scale. You can learn more about our work with brands such as Fiverr, AG1, Acorns, and SimpliSafe at by reading our influencer marketing case studies.
New media. Old-fashioned relationships.
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¹ [U.S. Census Bureau [2023] U.S. Census Bureau July 1 2023 Estimates]² 14,833 sponsored YouTube videos published through The Outloud Group’s anonymous brand partners in 2020, 2021, 2022, & 2023 ³ 90,893 sponsored YouTube videos in 2020, 2021, 2022, & 2023 were used as a proxy for the industry benchmark, this data came from the Top 20 U.S. brands that Tubular Lab’s Dealmaker tagged as sponsoring the most YouTube videos⁴ Sponsored refers to any YouTube video where a brand compensated a creator in the form of monetary compensation, product, or services as disclosed by the creator for the FTC⁵ 14,833 sponsored YouTube videos published through The Outloud Group’s anonymous brand partners in 2020, 2021, 2022, & 2023 ⁶ We normalized the data set by only looking at brand deals with video views in a locked range of under 120,000 views per video for all creators included in this study. This was done in order to compare CPMs of videos with similar views, therefore, removing varying view counts from having a material impact on the results ⁷ CPM is defined as “Cost Per Mille” or, more simply put, is the monetary compensation a creator receives from a brand per 1,000 views obtained on a sponsored YouTube video ⁸ The sponsored videos in this study will continue to accrue views indefinitely, thus, the CPMs will continue to decrease for all data points in Figure 3 but at a similar rate for all creators compared to the last publication and future iterations