Click Analytic methodology
CA Influence Index™
The CA Influence Index™ (CII) is Click Analytic's score for comparing creators inside one market. It runs from 0 to 99, with a letter grade from A+ to D.
Our founder, Paul Boulet, set it up in August 2026 because a list of creators should show who is strongest, not just who is biggest. Follower count alone never decides the order.
Method as used on Click Analytic lists, September 2026.
Where you see it
- Graded lists under Find influencers are sorted by it.
- Every creator card shows the grade. "Why A+ on the CA Influence Index" opens the score of each part.
- The Ranking method section under the cards gives the weights and the market medians that list used.
- Popularity lists are sorted by average views instead. They say so and show no grade.
Weights by type of list
Four parts. How much each counts depends on the platform and on what the list covers.
| List | Audience fit | Engagement | Views | Audience quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram, one country | 25% | 30% | 30% | 15% |
| Instagram, one city | 25% | 30% | 30% | 15% |
| Instagram, one niche worldwide | 10% (niche authority) | 36% | 36% | 18% |
| TikTok or YouTube, one country | 25% | 25% | 50% | Not scored |
Instagram views are compared with the creator's own following. TikTok and YouTube views are compared with the market median for accounts of the same size.
What each part measures
Audience fit
The share of the creator's followers in the list's country. 80% or more gets full marks, and the score falls in proportion below that: 40% local scores 50 out of 100. City lists use the share inside the city, with full marks at 30%. Few creators have more than that in one city: on our Barcelona list the 25 creators have 15% to 41%. Against the 80% country bar they would all score between 19 and 51, and the part would barely tell them apart.
Niche authority (worldwide niche lists)
A worldwide niche list has no target country, so this part reads the creator's own bio. Professional status scores 100, career honours 85, plain self-identification 80, a role in the niche such as coach or host 60, a passing mention 55, a bio that never names the niche 30. It weighs 10%, not 25%, because a bio is a claim, not a measurement. That has a cost: Emma Raducanu's bio reads "🇬🇧| ldn :)", so on our tennis list she scores 30 here.
Engagement
The creator's engagement rate against the median for accounts of the same size in the same market. Medians are measured at 10K to 50K and at 250K+ followers; in between, the median is interpolated on a log scale. Three times the median gets full marks. A 2% rate can be strong at 2M followers and weak at 20K, so there is no single bar. Worldwide lists use the Creator Economy Report 2026 medians by follower tier.
Views on Instagram (view power)
Average Reel views against follower count. Views of twice the following get full marks; views equal to the following score 50. A big account that few people watch cannot win on size.
Views on TikTok and YouTube
Average views against the median for accounts of the same size, on the same platform, in the same market, in three bands: 10K to 50K, 50K to 250K and 250K+ followers. With r as views divided by that median, the part scores 100 × r / (1 + r): the median earns 50, three times the median 75, nine times 90. If a band has no measured median, the list is not graded. We never fill the gap with a guess.
Audience quality (Instagram only)
The estimated share of followers that look like real people, not suspicious, inactive or mass-following accounts. 90% or more gets full marks. TikTok and YouTube data carry no such figure, so their lists have no quality part.
Worked example
A made-up Instagram creator on a country list. The engagement median for their size in that market is 1%.
| Part | Creator's figure | Part score | Weighted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audience fit (25%) | 60% of followers in the country | 75 | 18.75 |
| Engagement (30%) | 3% engagement, three times the median | 100 | 30 |
| View power (30%) | Reel views 1.5 times the following | 75 | 22.5 |
| Audience quality (15%) | 85% of followers look real | 94.4 | 14.17 |
Total 85.42. Rounded once: 85, grade A.
How the score adds up
- Each part scores 0 to 100 and is multiplied by its weight, and the results are added. Nothing is rounded along the way.
- The total is rounded once and capped at 99. No list should claim certainty about a future campaign.
- Grades use only the figures printed on each card, so you can recompute any of them from the page.
Grades
- A+
- 90 to 99
- A
- 80 to 89
- B
- 65 to 79
- C
- 50 to 64
- D
- under 50
Rules
- All or nothing. A list shows grades only when every creator on it has every input. Missing data never counts as zero; the list keeps its original order instead.
- Local benchmarks. A German creator is measured against the German median for their size, from our market study for Germany, not against a global average.
- Grades do not travel. An A on a German list and an A on a Mexican list are each measured against their own market.
- Not a forecast. The index says who is strongest on the list today, not what a campaign will sell.
- Published weights. The weights are our editorial choice, stated here and on every list, so anyone can check a grade.
Lists to look at
- German content creators: Instagram, one country
- Influencers in Barcelona: Instagram, one city
- Top tennis influencers: Instagram, worldwide niche
- British female YouTubers: YouTube, views against the size-band median