Food brands produced the largest volume of high-performing influencer adverts in 2025, according to CORQ’s annual data review. The analysis, produced independently by our team of in-house journalists, also found comedy was the most efficient way to achieve scaled views on adverts and creator content from brand experiences and trips performed well.
The report includes:
- The top 50 influencer adverts posted on Instagram by engagement rate.
- Demographic and audience breakdowns of influencers who produced the top ads.
- 12 key moments from TikTok in 2025.
- Overview of creator culture growth in retail and media.
Download the full report here, read in magazine format here and see below for headline takeaways.
16% of top ads were comedy skits
Leaning into comedy resulted in consumer sentiment as they provided entertainment. Riz Houari produced two of the top ads with her comedy stylings and known content formats. Her girlfriend mentality sketch for ASOS has a 29% ER with 887,000 views. Meanwhile, Jessie Sale used a viral audio clip from Mean Girls for her Target Darts ad (57.9% ER).
April and November delivered most engagement on campaigns
The transitional months April (looking forward to spring and summer) and November (looking forward to the holiday season and beyond) are peak times to invest in influencer ads. 20% and 18% (respectively) of the best performing campaigns went live during those months. The top performing ad in April was KT Franklin x Estrid press trip Carousel which had an 85.3% ER and the most engaged ad in November was a Wicked-themed meal by Ruby Lou, 141% ER.
Creator promotions of own-brand products consistently performed
Case in point was food creators Roxy Pope and Ben Pook’s adverts for their app So Vegan. The duo regularly drive consumer awareness of it by sharing recipe tutorials. Meanwhile, Dr Vanita Rattan’s Reel promoting her company Skincare By Dr V achieved a 26.2% ER. She asked her followers to help pick out new packaging for one of her products and 307 people shared opinions. This is part of a wider audience desire for “founder journey” content where consumers get “behind the scenes” access to the reality of building businesses.
Download the full report here, read in magazine format here and see below for headline takeaways.
By Caroline Edwards, Dina Zubi and Emilie McMeekan.
