Check the UK audience share before the follower count
The market median is 30% and only 41.3% of creators clear 40%. On a UK-only brief, that is the first filter.
the United Kingdom market study · 2026
The UK's Creator Economy in 2026
Using Click Analytic's own database of 400M+ creator profiles, we counted every one of the 142,382 British Instagram accounts above 10,000 followers and measured how they actually perform.
How much of a British creator's audience is genuinely in the UK, what engagement and view counts look like at each follower size, how many accounts are still posting, and how deeply brands have already worked this market. Every figure below has its own chart, data table and source line.
By Paul BouletMeasured September 2026
142,382Instagram creators with 10K+ followers in the UK
48.3%have already run branded content
30%median share of the audience that is actually in the UK
58.0%of British Instagram creators are women
About this study
This report maps the British creator market on Instagram from Click Analytic's own creator database. It is not a survey, not a panel and not a sample.
We counted every Instagram account with at least 10,000 followers whose location resolves to the United Kingdom, then measured follower size, creator gender, audience location, engagement rate, average Reel views, posting activity, follower growth and brand-deal history across all 142,382 of them. Nano accounts between 1,000 and 10,000 followers are counted separately and excluded from every total and share here.
TikTok and YouTube are not in this edition. A British study on those platforms has not been run into the repository, so this page reports what was actually measured rather than filling the gap with an estimate. Every cross-market comparison below is Instagram against Instagram.
Eight findings from the data, starting with the one that sets the UK apart.
On this page
Key findings
The British creator market in numbers. Each finding has its own link, so a single statistic can be cited on its own.
48.3% of British Instagram creators have run branded content
68,801 accounts, the 2nd highest rate of the 10 markets measured, just behind Sweden. The UK is a thoroughly worked market.
142,382 British Instagram creators above 10K followers
Plus 1,438,079 nano accounts between 1,000 and 10,000, 10.1 for every account already above the line. Only the United States has a larger measured Instagram base.
Only 41.3% keep 40% of their audience in the UK
The market median is 30%. English-language content travels, and British creators are read heavily from the United States, Ireland, Australia and beyond.
58.0% of British Instagram creators are women
82,534 accounts against 59,848 run by men, one of the most female-skewed Instagram creator pools we measure.
British engagement sits in the bottom half of the study
19.9% of British creators clear a 3% engagement rate, against 27.9% in France. The median at 10K to 50K followers is around 0.86%.
48,694 British accounts have not posted in 30 days
65.8% of British Instagram creators posted within the last month, which leaves a live pool of 93,688 accounts rather than 142,382.
5.2% average 100K or more Reel views
7,373 British accounts, and 576 average a million. The market median is around 5,300 views per Reel.
73,581 British creators have never run a brand deal
Even in the 2nd most brand-worked market we measure, 51.7% of the base shows no detected branded content at all.
How many influencers are there in the UK?
The United Kingdom holds 142,382 Instagram accounts with 10,000 or more followers, and 1,438,079 more between 1,000 and 10,000. Counted together that is 1,580,461 accounts.
That places the UK 2nd of the 10 markets measured on Instagram, behind only the United States, and ahead of Spain at 108,392 and Germany at 97,105. For a country of 68 million that is a disproportionately large creator base, and it reflects how far English-language content reaches.
The bench underneath is deep: 10.1 nano accounts for every British account already above 10K, one of the highest ratios in this study. There is no shortage of creators about to cross the line.
75.7% of British creators sit between 10K and 50K followers, 10.9% between 100K and 500K, and 1,408 accounts have passed a million.
View data table
| Follower size | Instagram (accounts) | Instagram (share) |
|---|---|---|
| 10K-50K | 107,733 | 75.7% |
| 50K-100K | 15,914 | 11.2% |
| 100K-500K | 15,519 | 10.9% |
| 500K-1M | 1,808 | 1.3% |
| 1M+ | 1,408 | 1.0% |
Subscribers on YouTube. Bands are exclusive and sum to the platform base.
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For marketers
A large base and a deep nano bench mean the UK rewards filtering rather than searching. The constraint is not supply, it is picking well from a very large pool.
Next, the number that most British media plans get wrong.
Where British creators' audiences are actually located
Only 41.3% of British Instagram creators keep at least 40% of their audience in the United Kingdom, and the market median is 30%.
61.3% clear a 20% domestic threshold and 25.4% clear 60%. The UK ranks 7th of 10 on this measure, a long way behind Colombia at 75.8%.
The cause is language rather than quality. British creators publish in English into the largest single-language feed on the internet, and the audience that finds them is spread across the United States, Ireland, Australia, Canada and the rest of the anglophone world. Those followers are real; they simply are not British.
On 100,000 followers, a British creator at the market median delivers roughly 30,000 people inside the UK.
For marketers
Price and forecast on UK followers, never on total followers. A British creator with a large following and a low domestic share is often better value for a global brief than for a British one.
Location is half the test. Engagement is the other half.
Engagement rate benchmarks for UK influencers
19.9% of British Instagram creators clear a 3% engagement rate, placing the UK 8th of the 10 markets measured.
44.9% exceed 1%, 19.9% exceed 3% and 11.8% exceed 5%. The median at 10K to 50K followers is around 0.86%, falling to around 0.68% at 50K to 250K and around 0.68% above 250K. Across the whole market the median is around 0.79%.
Compare that with France at around 1.3% or Germany at around 1.2% on the same band and the same method. British engagement runs below the European markets in this study and close to the United States at around 0.79%, which is consistent with a creator base whose audience is largely international.
Those medians come from binary search over counting queries, so each is a narrow range rather than an exact point. The data tables carry the range; the prose rounds.
View data table
| Engagement rate | Instagram (accounts) | Instagram (share) |
|---|---|---|
| 1%+ | 63,899 | 44.9% |
| 3%+ | 28,281 | 19.9% |
| 5%+ | 16,758 | 11.8% |
Engagement is calculated per platform, so a rate compares within a platform only. Thresholds are cumulative.
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View data table
| Follower size | |
|---|---|
| 10K-50K followers | 0.86% (range 0.83% to 0.89%) |
| 50K-250K followers | 0.68% (range 0.65% to 0.71%) |
| 250K+ followers | 0.68% (range 0.65% to 0.71%) |
Found by binary search over counting queries, so each median is a narrow range. Round it before quoting it.
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For marketers
Benchmark a British creator against the British median for their size band. A 3% floor borrowed from a French or German brief rejects four fifths of this market.
Engagement measures the audience a creator has. Views measure how far the post travels beyond it.
Views and reach in the British market
33.8% of British Instagram creators average at least 10,000 Reel views. 5.2% average 100,000, and 576 accounts average a million.
The median British creator averages around 5,300 views per Reel, measured across the whole market. The UK ranks 5th of 10 on the six-figure rate.
Read it alongside the domestic share. A British creator averaging 100,000 views at the market median of 30% domestic audience is delivering roughly 30,000 British views, which is the number a UK campaign is actually buying.
View data table
| Average views per video | Instagram (accounts) | Instagram (share) |
|---|---|---|
| 10K+ | 48,136 | 33.8% |
| 100K+ | 7,373 | 5.2% |
| 1M+ | 576 | 0.4% |
Reels on Instagram, videos on TikTok and YouTube. Thresholds are cumulative.
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For marketers
Multiply expected views by the creator's UK audience share before you compare a quote. In a market this international the two numbers together reorder a shortlist that looks flat on followers.
A view only counts if the account is still posting.
How many British creators are active, and which are growing
65.8% of British Instagram accounts posted in the last 30 days, leaving 48,694 dormant for a month or more.
That is the 2nd highest activity rate of the 10 markets measured, ahead of Germany and behind Mexico. In absolute terms the dormant British pool is large enough that an unfiltered shortlist will contain a meaningful share of accounts that have stopped publishing.
Growth is modest. 9.2% of British creators grew their following by at least 20% over six months, placing the UK 8th of 10, 5,919 grew by half or more and 3,039 doubled.
A mature, well-worked market behaves this way: the audience is already distributed and established names hold it.
View data table
| Platform | Posted in the last 30 days | Share of the platform base | Did not post |
|---|---|---|---|
| 93,688 | 65.8% | 48,694 |
Activity is measured from the most recent post we hold for the account.
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View data table
| Follower growth, six months | Instagram (accounts) | Instagram (share) |
|---|---|---|
| +20% | 13,099 | 9.2% |
| +50% | 5,919 | 4.2% |
| +100% | 3,039 | 2.1% |
Thresholds are cumulative: an account that grew 100% is also counted at 50% and 20%.
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For marketers
Apply the recency filter before you apply anything else. None of the engagement or view figures on this page describe an account that has not posted in a month.
And the commercial question, where the UK leads almost everyone.
Brand deals and creator quality in the UK
48.3% of British Instagram creators have run branded content, 68,801 accounts, the 2nd highest rate of the 10 markets measured.
Only Sweden is ahead. Against the global Creator Economy Report figure of 28.8% on Instagram, the UK is a market brands have worked hard and for a long time, which shows up as low briefing overhead and high rate cards in roughly equal measure.
The opportunity is what is left. 73,581 British accounts, 51.7% of the base, show no detected branded content at all. Undisclosed and gifted collaborations are not captured by this measurement, so read the brand-deal figure as a floor rather than a census.
Brand experience is not a quality score. It predicts how smoothly a campaign runs, not how well it performs. Audience fit, engagement against the size band and UK audience share still decide the booking.
View data table
| Platform | Has run branded content | Share of the platform base | No branded content detected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 68,801 | 48.3% | 73,581 |
At least one detected sponsored or branded post. Undisclosed or gifted collaborations are not captured.
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For marketers
In the most worked market in Europe, the differentiator is not finding experienced creators, it is finding good ones your competitors have not already booked. Start from the 51.7% with no detected history.
Every figure above, side by side, in one table.
Who British creators are
58.0% of British Instagram creators above 10,000 followers are women, one of the most female-skewed creator pools in this study.
82,534 accounts are run by women and 59,848 by men. Only Mexico and Colombia run further in the same direction among the markets measured.
Creator gender is inferred from the profile. Accounts with no identifiable individual creator, such as brands, shops and media outlets, are outside the measured population rather than counted separately. Audience gender was not published in this study: the filter behind it is unsupported in the measurement API.
View data table
| Platform | Women | Share | Men | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 82,534 | 58.0% | 59,848 | 42.0% |
Gender is inferred from the profile. Accounts with no identifiable individual creator are outside the base filter entirely.
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For marketers
Creator gender is not audience gender. If your buyer is a specific gender, filter on audience composition directly rather than inferring it from the creator.
Numbers mean little until you know whether they are high or low.
Every British creator market metric in one table
Every published figure from the British study, as an account count and a share of the platform base.
| Metric | |
|---|---|
| Market size | |
| Creator accounts, 10K+ followers | 142,382 |
| Nano accounts, 1K-10K followers | 1,438,079 |
| Follower size (subscribers on YouTube) | |
| 10K-50K | 107,733 (75.7%) |
| 50K-100K | 15,914 (11.2%) |
| 100K-500K | 15,519 (10.9%) |
| 500K-1M | 1,808 (1.3%) |
| 1M+ | 1,408 (1.0%) |
| Creator gender | |
| MALE | 59,848 (42.0%) |
| FEMALE | 82,534 (58.0%) |
| Audience located in the United Kingdom | |
| 20%+ in-country | 87,299 (61.3%) |
| 40%+ in-country | 58,778 (41.3%) |
| 60%+ in-country | 36,233 (25.4%) |
| Engagement rate | |
| Engagement rate 1%+ | 63,899 (44.9%) |
| Engagement rate 3%+ | 28,281 (19.9%) |
| Engagement rate 5%+ | 16,758 (11.8%) |
| Median engagement rate | |
| Median, 10K-50K | 0.86% |
| Median, 50K-250K | 0.68% |
| Median, 250K+ | 0.68% |
| Average views per video | |
| Average views 10K+ | 48,136 (33.8%) |
| Average views 100K+ | 7,373 (5.2%) |
| Average views 1M+ | 576 (0.4%) |
| Activity | |
| Posted in last 30 days | 93,688 (65.8%) |
| Follower growth, six months | |
| Growth +20% | 13,099 (9.2%) |
| Growth +50% | 5,919 (4.2%) |
| Growth +100% | 3,039 (2.1%) |
| Commercial readiness | |
| Has run branded content | 68,801 (48.3%) |
| Verification | |
| Verified | withheld |
Not measured: the metric was not run on that platform in this study. Withheld: measured, but held back while the measurement is reviewed. Every share uses its own platform base (142,382 Instagram).
Next, the United Kingdom against the global market.
the United Kingdom against the global creator economy
We compared these British figures against Click Analytic's Creator Economy Report 2026, a separate study of 23.6M creator accounts across 25 markets, snapshot the whole of 2025.
The commercial comparison is the striking one. 48.3% of British Instagram creators carry brand-deal history against 28.8% worldwide, which is the largest gap to the global figure of any market in this study apart from Sweden.
Engagement runs close to the global benchmark, with a median of around 0.86% at 10K to 50K followers against a global 0.80%. Activity is ahead, at 65.8% posting in the last month against 55.9% globally.
View data table
| Metric | the United Kingdom | Global |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram median engagement rate, 10K-50K followers | 0.86% | 0.8% |
| Instagram creators with previous branded content | 48.3% | 28.8% |
| Instagram creators who posted in the last 30 days | 65.8% | 55.9% |
Global figures: Click Analytic Creator Economy Report 2026, a study of 23.6M creator accounts across 25 markets, snapshot the whole of 2025. A metric with no comparable global figure is left out rather than estimated.
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For marketers
The global average will not warn you about the UK's audience location. A worldwide benchmark says nothing about a market whose median creator holds 30% of their audience at home.
Here is what that changes about planning a British campaign.
What this means for marketers working in the United Kingdom
Six rules for planning influencer campaigns in the United Kingdom, each grounded in a figure above.
Benchmark engagement against the UK
19.9% of British creators clear 3% and the median at 10K to 50K is around 0.86%. A continental European floor rejects most of the market.
Assume your competitors got here first
48.3% of British creators have run branded content, the 2nd highest rate of the 10 markets measured. Differentiation comes from who you find, not from finding anyone.
Work the untouched pool deliberately
73,581 British accounts show no detected brand history. In a saturated market that is where the uncontested shortlist is.
Filter for activity
48,694 of 142,382 British accounts have not posted in the last 30 days.
Use the nano bench
1,438,079 British accounts sit between 1,000 and 10,000 followers, 10.1 for every one already above the line. That is where the next cohort is, before the rate cards move.
Want to see the creators behind these numbers?
Find the British creators behind these numbers
Every metric on this page is a filter in Click Analytic: audience location, engagement against the benchmarks above, average views, posting activity and brand history.
Browse ranked UK influencer lists
Every number on this page comes from live creator profiles. Here they are, ranked and filterable.
Methodology
Every figure on this page is the exact number of accounts returned by one counting query against the Click Analytic creator database. Medians were found by binary search over the same queries, so each is a narrow range that we publish rounded.
- Population
- Creator accounts with 10,000-100,000,000 followers (subscribers on YouTube) located in United Kingdom, with an inferred gender.
- Base per platform
- 142,382 Instagram. Every share on this page uses its own platform base.
- Nano tier
- Accounts with 1,000 to 10,000 followers, counted separately under the same location rules and excluded from every 10K+ total and share: 1,438,079 Instagram.
- Measured
- Instagram in September 2026 (116 counting queries).
- Counting, not sampling
- Each figure is the exact number of accounts returned by one query against the Click Analytic creator database, which indexes over 400 million public profiles. This is not a survey and not a sample.
- Accounts, not people
- Accounts are counted per platform. A creator active on two platforms appears in both totals, so the cross-platform figure is a count of creator accounts rather than of individuals.
- Engagement rate
- Calculated per platform. The definitions differ, so a rate is comparable within a platform and not across platforms.
- Medians
- Found by binary search over counting queries, which returns a narrow range rather than a point. Ranges are shown in the data tables and the prose rounds hard.
Notes and limits
- This edition covers Instagram only. A British TikTok and YouTube study has not been run into the repository, and the page reports what was measured rather than filling the gap with an estimate.
- Audience gender is absent because the filter behind it is unsupported in the measurement API. The collector marked those rows unpublishable rather than print a number it could not defend.
- Followers in Ireland, the United States, Australia and Canada count as outside the United Kingdom throughout. For an anglophone rather than British campaign, read the full country split on the shortlist.
- Read from data/market-medians/united-kingdom-instagram--2026-09-14.json and data/market-studies/market-united-kingdom-instagram--bf_v1--2026-09-11-v1.json, the study artifacts committed to the Click Analytic repository. Each is immutable: a re-measurement lands as a new file rather than editing an old one.
- Rows the collector held back are printed as "withheld" rather than as an estimate. The Instagram verification rate is one of them: it reads implausibly high across every market measured and is under review.
Still have questions? Most of them are answered below.
Frequently asked questions
How many influencers are there in the UK?
Click Analytic counts 142,382 Instagram accounts with 10,000 or more followers located in the United Kingdom, measured in September 2026. Adding nano creators between 1,000 and 10,000 followers brings the total to 1,580,461 accounts.
What is a good engagement rate for a UK Instagram influencer?
Read it against the size band. The median is around 0.86% at 10K to 50K followers, around 0.68% at 50K to 250K and around 0.68% above 250K. Across the whole market the median is around 0.79%, and 19.9% of British creators clear 3%.
How much of a UK influencer's audience is actually in the UK?
At the market median, 30%. 41.3% of British creators keep at least 40% of their audience in the United Kingdom and 25.4% keep at least 60%. English-language content reaches the United States, Ireland, Australia and Canada as well.
How many UK influencers have done brand deals?
68,801 British Instagram accounts, 48.3% of the market, show at least one detected branded post. That is the 2nd highest share of the 10 markets Click Analytic has measured.
How many views does a UK Instagram creator get?
The median British creator averages around 5,300 views per Reel. 33.8% average at least 10,000, 5.2% average at least 100,000 and 576 accounts average a million.
Are UK influencers mostly men or women?
Women. 58.0% of British Instagram creators above 10,000 followers are women, 82,534 accounts, against 59,848 run by men.
How was this data collected?
Each figure is the exact result count of a query against Click Analytic's database of 400M+ creator profiles, not a survey and not a sample. Instagram was measured in September 2026. Medians come from binary search over counting queries and are published rounded.
Cite and embed this study
Journalists, analysts and agencies are welcome to use these figures with a link to this page. Every chart carries its own data table and source line.
Suggested citation
Click Analytic (2026). Influencer Marketing in the UK: 2026 Creator Economy Statistics. the United Kingdom creator market study, September 2026. https://www.clickanalytic.com/creator-economy-report/united-kingdom/
Short source line
Source: Click Analytic, the United Kingdom creator market study (September 2026)
Measured from data/market-medians/united-kingdom-instagram--2026-09-14.json, data/market-studies/market-united-kingdom-instagram--bf_v1--2026-09-11-v1.json.