2025 Creator Benchmarks: The Measurement Shift You Need to Know
By Ben Goren, Director, ZDX
03/05/25
Measuring the impact of creator marketing is challenging.
Not everything creators do can be neatly quantified. It’s hard to point to a single piece of data that shows how a specific video from a creator influences long-term consumer interest. In the effort to measure the value of creators, marketers have leaned on simple social stats like impressions and engagements. However, as the industry has evolved, the benchmarks for success have largely remained unchanged. But are we sure we’re measuring the right things?
At Zeno, we encourage marketers to consider engagement rate as a secondary performance indicator and focus instead on video view rate. In doing so, we are measuring what matters: what percent of a creator’s audience we’ve actually reached. Our latest benchmarks will help you do the same and contextualize success.
Zeno analyzed over 1,500 pieces of sponsored content from hundreds of partners throughout 2024 to assess how sponsored content is performing across channels and creator.
However, even video view rate only tells a partial story.
If 10 million people see a video but none of them remember it, did it have an impact? No.
The Missing Metric: Organic Watch Time
So how do we address that? With organic watch time.
Zeno has developed new benchmarks to measure how long audiences are watching a piece of sponsored content before dropping off.
Rethinking Creator Marketing Success Metrics
Creator marketers should be asking themselves whether the success metrics they’re using actually measure resonance and brand impact.
At Zeno, these are the questions driving innovation. And the answers point to one key takeaway: Organic watch time, only recently made trackable, is a must-have metric in any campaign analysis.
Why do brands work with creators?
To reach their audience.
Brands invest in creators for the privilege of exposing audiences to their message.
How do we measure audience reach?
Video view rate (or reach rate).
If a brand is contracting a creator for access to their audience, they must measure how much of that audience actually saw the sponsored content.
Do engagement metrics reflect content impact?
Not especially.
What’s more valuable?
- Someone who likes a video and drops a 🔥 emoji without paying real attention?
- Or someone who watches every second of a sponsored video before swiping away, even if the don’t engage?
The answer is clear. Engagement metrics alone don’t tell the full story.
The true measure of content resonance?
Organic watch time.
The longer the average watch time, the more branded messaging viewers are exposed to, and the higher likelihood of brand recall.
Is organic watch time as critical as video view rate?
Every bit.
By replacing engagement metrics with watch time in the measurement hierarchy, we can now evaluate two critical aspects of creator content:
- The value of reaching a creator’s audience (via video view rate).
- The value of creating content that resonates.
A Holistic Measurement Framework
For the first time, we can contextualize our results for both video view rate and organic watch time. We’re getting closer every year to measuring more of what we know is most valuable about creator marketing.
At Zeno, we’re committed to continuously refining how we measure impact and helping brands get closer to understanding the true value of creator collaborations.