Hello and welcome to the first indaHash International Influencer Report.

We believe research makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of this growing group of revolutionaries who, armed with little more than mobiles and imaginations, are quietly becoming the world’s publishers and broadcasters. There is a wealth of information contained in the report but here are some stand-out points.

1. WOMEN ARE THE NEW MEDIA

Women – they rule social media, influence purchase decisions, set trends. According to our study 68% of social media influencers are female!

• 47% of female influencers (vs 36% male) posts content 1-3 a day
• 77% claim that influencers are competitive with traditional media
• 45% (vs 31%) bought something they saw in social media last week
• 62% (vs 48%) say other social media users are most opinion forming for them

2. “INFLUENCER” IS A NEW PROFESSION

Being an “influencer” means certain lifestyle, social status and now a profession. Some of the influencers make a living out of their social media skills, some treat it as a side job and passion. Nevertheless, all of them create a lot of content and treat it really seriously!

• 88% claim that they are influential also off-line among friends
• 64% treat “influencery” as a profession (have a specific vision, train their skills, and try to stay professional), and
• 61% post content at least once a day

3. INFLUENCERS INFLUENCE EACH OTHER

They are living in social media, watching tons of online videos instead of TV, following real people rather than media and brands – this is what influencers’ media consumption looks like.

• 83% of influencers prefer to follow real people rather than traditional media
• 55% of most engaging influencers watch online videos a few hours a day (51% watch little or no TV)
• 79% declare that the most opinion forming sources for them are: friends plus other influencers and social media users (only 1% chose Radio, 3% Press, 5% TV)

indaHash is proud to be supporting this growing group. Today there are almost 250,000 global digital influencers (with a combined reach of over half a billion followers) making money through their passions on the indaHash platform for Fortune 500 brands such as Coca Cola, L’Oreal and Google. Since we launched indaHash in January 2016 we have seen phenomenal business success with yearon- year revenue growth of 1214% and expansion from a team of six in one location to 90 staff spread across five countries on three continents. In our first year we ran around 900 campaigns for almost 300 different clients. indaHash influencergenerated branded content created over 22m interactions with real people on social media. As part of our commitment to social media, indaHash is also launching indaHash LABS, a hub of influencer marketing knowledge. In the true spirit of social, LABS opens up and shares our knowledge of the sphere. From case studies to expert commentary, it will provide tools for our community to increase their effectiveness and build their capabilities. It will also create a space for brands to learn how to tap into the power of our community. Come and pay us a visit at labs.indahash.com