Media is constantly evolving. There’s never a dull moment, with a new «next big thing» always around the corner. New trends, formats, and platforms drive brands to consistently explore new ways to reach and connect with consumers. One prominent example is influencer marketing, or in other words, working with creators.
WARC research found that 61% of marketers plan to increase their investment in influencer/creator marketing in 2026. Which isn’t surprising, considering consumers themselves say they find independent creators more interesting and trustworthy than traditional brand communications, as highlighted by the Edelman Trust Barometer. This sentiment is echoed by Unilever’s CEO, who stated that consumers are increasingly skeptical of brand-driven narratives. This means that control is shifting from brands to independent creators. So, what does this mean for brands?
A team of researchers from Harvard and MIT explored the world of influencer video advertising – specifically influencer videos on TikTok – in an article published in Marketing Science. They refer to it as “engagement that sells.” The researchers gathered 20,000 TikTok videos from influencers in China and linked each video to sales data for the same product on the e‑commerce platform Taobao. For every video, they identified which elements captured the most viewer attention. They did this by training a computer model that measures where and for how long viewers focus their attention, pixel by pixel. They also mapped where the product appears in the video and for how long. By combining these two datasets, they created what they call a Product Engagement Score.
The study reveals several interesting insights. First, overall attention to the TikTok video (engagement) is not a predictor of higher sales. This isn’t entirely surprising, since more likes don’t automatically lead to a stronger brand or more purchases either. Second, simply showing the product more often or for a longer duration is not a strong driver of sales, nor is the influencer’s popularity. What does matter is a combination: the product must be shown at the exact moments when the video is most captivating to viewers. Only this overlap, where attention to the content and product align, predicts higher sales. And that is what the researchers define as the Product Engagement Score.
Here’s another striking finding in this research: the dataset also includes TikTok videos in which influencers promote products they sell themselves. In fact, these are the videos with the highest Product Engagement Scores of all. This highlights how powerful motivation is. When influencers directly benefit from the sale, they do position the product at the most attention-grabbing moments, resulting in significantly greater impact.
In my view, there is one limitation to this Product Engagement Score. It is based solely on predicted visual attention. Tools that measure this have become commonplace, and they often lead to checklists and playbooks full of guidelines. But what makes influencers so successful on a platform like TikTok is, of course, audio as well. Their storytelling voice, jokes, the trendy music they use, funny sound effects –together, these video and audio elements capture the attention of the scrolling TikTok audience. It turns digital content into laughter and emotion, an experience, and ultimately into meaning for the brand.
At Toluna, we have evaluated thousands of ads and creative assets over the years and consolidated our findings into best practices and recommendations across the creative landscape. Some of our learnings include:
Fast-screen content featuring your brand or product for at least 60% of its duration is 1.8x more likely to make an impact. Learn more here.
A compelling hook is a key element to improving ad recall, especially on platforms like TikTok. In fact, content featuring creators from the outset can increase ad recall by 32%.
There is no template for weaving together entertainment and product integration. It’s a matter of good storytelling. And that happens to be exactly what creators are great at. Consumers trust creators, and logically so, because storytelling is a craft they excel at; one that drives strong engagement. Marketers shouldn’t be blinded by attractive engagement scores: don’t let your product or brand integration fall by the wayside. After all, brands pay and creators play.
Andy Santegoed
Senior Solution Consultant at Toluna
Andy Santegoeds has been a member of the board of SWOCC – the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research into Commercial Communication – since 2013 and is a regular contributor of thought pieces about advertising and brands. A version of this article was originally published in Dutch on the SWOCC website – available here.
